Save Lives And Avoid A Catastrophic Recession

Bangladesh has made great strides in many areas, including poverty eradication and life expectancy. There are still many opportunities for investments that improve the nation's future and transform lives.

Recently, a high-level team of prominent Bangladeshi development and economics leaders and a Nobel Laureate in Economics identified a prioritised list of such opportunities. They were tasked with answering the question: “What policies and investments would give Bangladesh the most impact for every taka spent?” 

In rich countries, the biggest killers are strokes, heart attacks and cancer, accounting for more than two-thirds of all deaths. But for the poorer world, people often assume that infectious diseases like diarrhea, tuberculosis, Aids, malaria, measles and tetanus are the biggest killers. That is no longer true. While they are still substantial threats, broader availability of medication and vaccines along with higher living standards has caused such communicable diseases to drop dramatically to below 9 million deaths each year. 

Malaria Is Making a Comeback But making sure new drugs are affordable for poor countries is still a cheap way to save hundreds of thousands of children.

By Bjørn Lomborg Posted Tuesday, May 1, 2012.

Copenhagen Consensus 2012 :  The 10 most effective ideas for improving the world.