"To Help Poor Americans Live Longer, Doctors Are Copying Rwanda, Ethiopia and Brazil" - Annalisa Merelli
Despite spending more money per capita on healthcare than any other country, the United States still struggles with dramatic health inequality. So to raise life expectancy in very poor areas like Oglala Lakota County in South Dakota, some researchers are looking at developing countries for advice: At Mount Sinai Health System, a research group from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is studying countries like Rwanda, which has added more than 30 years to citizens’ average life expectancy since 1990. “People systematically don’t look at low- and middle-income countries” as models of public health policy, acknowledges Prabhjot Singh, MD, PhD, director of the Arnhold Institute for Global Health and chair of the school’s Task Force for Global Advantage. “But not every poor country has been able to make the same breakthrough.” This, he said, suggests that some developing nations’ public health strategy plays an important and teachable role. The Mount Sinai task force, which published its first findings in April, looked at outstanding national health improvements in Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Brazil. It found a common thread: Community involvement.
- Prabhjot Singh, MD, PhD, Director, Arnhold Institute for Global Health, Chair, Department of Health System Design and Global Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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