Davos 2017 - Press Conference: Are we losing the fight for human health?
Channel: World Economic Forum
Date: 2017-01-18

http://www.weforum.org/
The growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low and lower middle-income countries has the potential to reverse positive health trends achieved in the last decade. Cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes, are responsible for 60 percent of all deaths worldwide - 36 million deaths annually. Beyond the human costs, there is an economic cost to these trends. A study conducted for the World Economic Forum estimates that under a “business as usual” scenario, low- and middle-income countries could lose $500 billion per year over the period 2011–2025 due to NCD morbidity and mortality; this equates to roughly 4% of average GDP for these countries. 

Improving care and access to medicines is fundamental to changing this picture. Access Accelerated, a collaborative commitment by 22 biopharmaceutical companies and partners, including the World Bank and the Union for International Cancer Control, has the scale and scope to make a difference. By working together to pilot new approaches, and scale what works, more countries will have access to the resources and knowledge needed to reach the ambitious NCD targets for UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 by 2030.

- Elizabeth Cousens, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, United Nations Foundation
- Cary Adams, Chief Executive Officer, Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)
- Ian C. Read, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer Inc.

Moderated by
- Georg Schmitt, Media Lead, Corporate Affairs and Foundations, World Economic Forum