(Bloomberg) — As the United Nations launches a 17-point agenda for helping the world's poor, 267 economists from 44 countries today published a declaration advocating one particular way: Make people healthier.
"In terms of how much better you can make the world per dollar you spend, it's very difficult to beat a set of strategic investments in health care," Harvard University economist Larry Summers, who organized the manifesto, said in an interview. "Ours is the unique generation that has the prospect of convergence across the world in health" (making the poor as healthy as the rich), Summers said.
What the economists are advocating is already included in the United Nations' new Sustainable Development Goals for the next 15 years. To be specific, it's part 8 of goal 3: "Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all."
But the economists clearly feel that health deserves to be called out for special consideration. In their declaration, they "call on global policymakers to prioritize a pro-poor pathway to universal health coverage as an essential pillar of development."
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