Pondering health, at home and abroad
The world is in the midst of a health care transition in which the primary threat increasingly comes from chronic diseases rather than infectious ones, and where the ailments of the elderly are supplanting the diseases of the young. That was one message coming from Harvard Business School last Friday, as speakers discussed health care internationally and in the United States during an “Innovations in Health Care Think Tank” sponsored by the Advanced Leadership Initiative. The two-day event was chaired by Barry Bloom, former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, who told the audience that today’s transition comes after decades of success that have raised the life expectancy from 47 in 1900 to as high as 87 in some countries. That has resulted in a demographic transition where the population over age 65 is increasing rapidly. The second shift results from success in fighting infectious diseases and the spread of...