Global Health and the New Bottom Billion: What Do Shifts in Global Poverty and the Global Disease Burden Mean for Gavi and the Global Fund?

Abstract

After a decade of rapid growth in average incomes many countries have attained middle-income country (MIC) status. At the same time the total number of poor people hasn’t fallen as much as one might expect and as a result most of the world’s poor now live in MICs. In fact there are up to a billion poor people or a ‘new bottom billion’ living not in the world’s poorest countries but in MICs. Not only has the global distribution of poverty shifted to MICs so has the global disease burden. This paper examines the implications of this ‘new bottom billion’ for global health efforts and recommends a tailored middle-income strategy for the Global Fund and GAVI. The paper describes trends in the global distribution of poverty preventable infectious diseases and health aid response to date; revisits the rationale for health aid through agencies like GAVI and the Global Fund; and proposes a new MIC strategy and components concluding with recommendations.