Global health is an important area of Swedish development aid with many intersections with other policy areas such as climate, trade, migration, and research and innovation. This anthology brings together many different voices and perspectives and draws conclusions on how Sweden can continue to be a world leader in global health and development in the future.
The anthology is only available in Swedish. A summary in English is published below. Three of the chapters are written in English and can be downloaded from this page.
Summary
Investing in global health is beneficial for Sweden, for the world and for the future
Investing in people’s health should be a priority for Swedish aid. At the same time, it is also a major research field and an important market for Sweden and for the Swedish private sector. This means that health is an area with many intersections and clear synergies between policy areas, for example between aid, trade, migration, climate and research and innovation.
How we work with health globally can also have direct impact on the health of the population of Sweden and can affect the image of Sweden. Global health is an area where Sweden has a good track record and where Sweden has already made major investments in the form of financial resources, but also in the form of advocacy, global leadership and research. We need to highlight the results of these investments and capitalise on them, which requires a long-term and innovative approach in the collaboration with partners.
Global health is a constantly evolving field where a lot has happened in the last 10, 20 or 50 years, depending on where you begin. In order to design future aid as effectively as possible, we need a common understanding of what we know today about what threatens global health, and what the possibilities are. For example, the burden of disease is changing. Life expectancy has increased, child mortality has declined, and infectious diseases are no longer the leading cause of death globally. At the same time, there are countries where child and maternal mortality rates remain unacceptably high, and millions of people still lack access to clean water and sanitation. The need for humanitarian support in various crises remains very high.
So how should we make the best use of Swedish aid to maximise and catalyse its impact on global health? Some of the key conclusions we draw from the collective contributions to this anthology are:
- The disease panorama is changing – non-communicable diseases and mental health are playing an increasingly important role. Health systems need to be ready to tackle this.
- Global health is about reducing health inequalities and inequalities in social health determinants – between and within countries.
- New and old health threats need to be better addressed. These include the impact of climate change on health, pandemics, antimicrobial resistance and various types of health disasters – caused by both climate change and war.
- The single most important action to improve global health is that low- and middle-income countries increase their national health budgets. Bilateral health aid should be focused on low-income countries with the greatest needs. Investments in global public goods can be a valuable complement to bilateral aid, not least for middle-income countries.
- Swedish private sector, government agencies and universities play an important role in global health and bilateral health assistance – and have much to learn that can be of value for Sweden. Collaboration and synergies between Swedish stakeholders require continued bilateral investments in health within Swedish aid.
- Sweden should take a leading role in Sweden’s multilateral cooperation in the field of health, as we have done in areas such as sexual and reproductive health and rights and antimicrobial resistance. This requires continued strong support for multilateral health cooperation and efforts to bring more Swedish experts into international cooperation and global health.
- Sweden can be a strong voice in favour of health as a human right. This involves, for example, standing up for the right to health for migrants and preventing attacks on health care in wars and conflicts.
The government has announced that the volume of Swedish aid will decrease to approximately 0.7 per cent of GNI by 2027. Most indications are that these reductions will also affect the volume of Swedish health aid. However, global health is a bigger issue than health aid. This anthology shows how global health issues extend beyond what health aid has historically focused on. Climate change and antimicrobial resistance are clear examples of challenges that affect Sweden’s international work in general, not just aid. Considering both the challenges and the opportunities ahead, Swedish health aid should increase rather than decrease and be complemented by non-aid investments in global health.
Our hope is that this anthology can contribute to a greater Swedish consensus on the global health challenges of the future and facilitate synergies and collaboration between partners. Investing in people’s health is investing in our common future – every effort today contributes to a more equitable and sustainable global society tomorrow.