Amanda Glassman was quoted in a PBS article on non-communicable diseases.
From the article
The escalating epidemic of non-communicable diseases could could cost the world $47 trillion over the next two decades, according to a report published Monday as United Nations representatives open a two-day, high-level meeting on the issue.
Diabetes, cancer and heart and lung disease -- the four conditions the U.N. is targeting -- account for more than $30 trillion of the total projected by the World Economic Forum and the Harvard School of Public Health, while mental illness alone amounts to $16 trillion.
"It's the current youth of today that is going to be most affected by this incredible cost and loss of income and productivity," said Sandeep Kishore, co-chair of the Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network, which held a rally near the U.N. headquarters Monday morning to push for strong action against the diseases. "What we are effectively doing is consigning our children to a world of poverty."
In the face of these dire predictions, the World Health Organization is recommending a set of "best buy" interventions that would help prevent and treat non-communicable diseases, with an average annual price tag of about $11.4 billion spread among all low- and middle-income countries.
It's a well-known argument in the United States' own health care debate: Invest in care and prevention now to save money in the long run. But the economic costs extend far past medical bills, according to the World Economic Forum. Non-communicable diseases cause more deaths each year than all infectious illnesses combined, and they are debilitating and disabling for people living with the chronic symptoms.
"When so many of the workforce is sick and dies in their productive years, national economies lose billions of dollars in output. And millions of families are pushed into poverty," said Jean-Pierre Rosso, chairman of the World Economic Forum in a statement released with the findings.
The estimated economic burden factors in medical costs, personal costs to patients -- such as lost income -- and broader economic losses from lost years of life and productivity, among other elements.
Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development, said projections like this must make many assumptions about how a health infrastructure will grow and respond, but that other research also shows costs could double, if not triple, in this time period, especially for middle-income countries where non-communicable diseases are growing fastest.