Speaker
Omar Karlsson
Visiting Fellow, DUPRI
Duke University
Abstract
The third report of the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health (CIH) emphasizes that by 2050, all countries can halve the probability of premature death—defined here as dying before the age 70 years—through targeted investments in health systems and interventions. This goal, referred to as "50 by 50," is both ambitious and achievable, demonstrated by recent impressive mortality declines in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Iran, Türkiye, Norway, and South Korea. The report and related work from the commission suggest that the wide disparities in health across countries are mostly attributable to a few conditions for which cost-effective treatments and preventative strategies already exist and should prioritized and be scaled up. While population aging and rising importance of chronic diseases provide new challenges, ongoing decline in both age and disease-specific mortality rates, thanks to technological innovations, offer hope that premature mortality can be halved by 2050 in all countries.