Foreign Affairs: Health Without Wealth
Thomas J. Bollyky, director of the global health program and senior fellow for global health, economics, and development at the Council on Foreign Relations

“…There is no worthier goal than reducing unnecessary pain and preventing deaths, especially among children. … [T]he world needs to pair global health aid with investments that can help countries improve their health care systems, make their cities more livable, and enable their companies to employ more people more productively. … [D]eveloping countries need to devote more resources to their cities and health care systems. … Strong health care systems can help doctors spot disease outbreaks quickly and diagnose chronic diseases early enough that patients can still be treated. That makes investments in basic health care infrastructure a cost-effective way to improve public health. … Progress against infectious diseases cannot be measured just in terms of the lives that were once lost to plagues and parasites. The real miracles in global health will happen when the people whose lives are saved by better health care can seize the opportunities and gain the prosperity that have come with health improvements in the past” (9/26).