Global Health Policy

In a recent op-ed published in the New York Times International Edition, I discuss the United Nations' new projections on population. The UN Population Division recently raised its estimate for global population to reach 10.1 billion by 2100—a steep increase from the previous projections which showed the world's population leveling off at 9 billion by 2050. Clearly, the UN has been too optimistic in its assumptions about how long it would take for many countries to reach replacement fertility.

World Health Day is April 7. Who remembers the theme of World Health Day 2010? Never mind. If you read any major media in the past week, you almost couldn’t escape knowing that World Health Day 2011 is about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), or drug resistance (here’s a link to an example from The Economist.) At least the World Health Organization’s (WHO) public relations machinery is ramped up. And they want us to be alarmed. Here’s a quote from WHO:

I am pleased to announce that the staff consultation draft report for the CGD Working Group on the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA’s) Role in International Population Policy, Reproductive and Sexual Health, and Reproductive Rights is now posted on the CGD website.

As some of you may know, CGD’s Drug Resistance Working Group released a report this summer, providing a comprehensive examination of drug resistance—across different diseases, geographies, and stakeholders. The report highlights alarmingly high rates of drug resistance throughout the world and warns of a growing public health crisis as more and more drugs lose their efficacy.