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Strengthening Health Systems for Pandemic Preparedness and Other Emerging Challenges

February 6, 2024

Washington, DC and Online

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VIDEO | FEB 06, 2024

Presentation (PDF)

While the world appears to have transitioned out of the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on society and health systems has been profound. In this talk, World Bank Lead Economist Damien de Walque will highlight and discuss some of the lessons learned through this crisis and the response to it. Stressing how beneficial the investments in health—including vaccination—have been during the pandemic, he will also place the disruption brought by COVID-19 in perspective with the current evolving burden of diseases in low- and middle-income countries.

Indeed, while COVID-19 reminded us of the world’s vulnerability to communicable diseases and while mortality and morbidity from maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases remain too high, especially in the poorest countries, the burden from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is growing. Each year, 17 million people die from a NCD before age 70 and 86% of these premature deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.

In those countries, it is further estimated that 45% of all avertable deaths can be prevented by public health interventions, 23% are due to non-utilization of health services, and 32% are due to poor quality of care. These estimates raise questions about how best to focus investments to reinforce health systems that can address the changing burden of diseases, as well as confront future pandemics. Finding a balance between preparedness, prevention, access to treatment, and quality of care will be essential.

SPEAKER
Damien de Walque
Lead Economist
Damien de Walque is Acting Manager and Lead Economist in the Development Research Group (Human Development Team) at the World Bank. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 2003. His research interests include health and education and the interactions between them. His current work is focused on evaluating the impact of financial incentives on health and education outcomes.

He has worked on evaluating the impact of HIV/AIDS interventions and policies in several African countries. He is also evaluating the health and education impacts of cash transfers programs in developing countries. On the supply side of health services, he managed a large portfolio of impact evaluations of results-based financing in the health sector leading to the publication the World Bank Policy Research Report, Improving Effective Coverage in Health: Do Financial Incentives Work?.
DISCUSSANT
Dena Ringold
Director, Strategy and Operations, Human Development Practice Group
Dena Ringold is the Director of Strategy and Operations for Human Development at the World Bank. Prior to that she held several senior positions at the World Bank including Regional Director for Human Development in the Africa West and Central Region, Practice Manager for the Human Capital Project, and Practice Manager for Social Protection and Jobs in the East and Southern Africa Region. Dena was a core team member of the World Development Report 2013 on Jobs and worked in the Office of the Chief Economist for Human Development, where she focused on the governance of service delivery.
CHAIR
Indermit Gill
Chief Economist of the World Bank and Senior Vice President for Development Economics
Indermit Gill is Chief Economist of the World Bank and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. Before starting this position on September 1, 2022, Gill served as the World Bank’s Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he helped shape the Bank’s response to the extraordinary series of shocks that have hit developing economies since 2020. Between 2016 and 2021, he was a professor of public policy at Duke University and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development program.

EVENT DETAILS

DATE: February 6, 2024
TIME: 12:30 - 2:00PM ET
LOCATION: MC Building (MC 13-121)
CONTACT: Michelle Chester
mchester@worldbank.org

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