Achieving a “Grand Convergence” in Global Health by 2035: Rwanda Shows the Way; Comment on “Improving the World’s Health Through the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Perspectives From Rwanda”

Document Type : Commentary

Authors

Evidence to Policy initiative (E2Pi), Global Health Group, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

Abstract

Global Health 2035, the report of The Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, laid out a bold, highly ambitious framework for making rapid progress in improving global public health outcomes. It showed that with the right health investments, the international community could achieve a “grand convergence” in global health—a reduction in avertable infectious, maternal, and child deaths down to universally low levels—within a generation. Rwanda’s success in rapidly reducing such deaths over the last 20 years shows that convergence is feasible. Binagwaho and Scott have argued that 5 lessons from this success are the importance of equity, quality health services, evidence-informed policy, intersectoral collaboration, and effective collaboration between countries and multilateral agencies. This article re-examines these lessons through the lens of the Global Health 2035 report to analyze how the experience in Rwanda might be generalized for other countries to making progress towards achieving a grand convergence.

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References

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History

  • Receive Date: 15 May 2015
  • Revise Date: 29 July 2015
  • Accept Date: 28 July 2015
  • First Publish Date: 01 November 2015

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