Four leading experts on health and data came together in Amsterdam for the JLI Chairs and Fellows Symposium to present their latest research findings. Profs. Dan Ariely (behavior economics), Mark Dybul (former executive director of Global Fund), Anna Vassal (health economics) and Catherine Kyobutungi (epidemiologist) shared and discussed different solutions on how to make health markets work for everyone, everywhere.
Achieving universal health coverage by 2030 is a further SDG commitment that is inextricably linked to achieving success in controlling the NCD epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The two-hour event left the audience with many new ideas and visions for change.
Here’s a summary of the key discussion points:
- Include the public in decision making and scale up local innovations
- Paternalism has caused health care systems to not work in the benefit of patients, but a bit of paternalism is needed to direct people into healthier behavior
- Transform the healthcare system from reactive and cure based to pro active and prevention
- Health interventions also need to focus on other effects on targeted people’s lives – such as the consequences on poverty reduction
We support our chairs in their strive for changing the global health world. The poor across this world have too often been the victim of dysfunctional and bureaucratic systems. These systems should work in the benefit of the people more. Although barely mentioned on the symposium, we think the mobile phone offers a unique opportunity to get good healthcare services available to more people.