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Millions Saved

Millions Saved

New Cases of Proven Success in Global Health

by Miriam Temin and Amanda Glassman

Published by: Center for Global Development

Imprint: Center for Global Development

260 Pages

Digital (delivered electronically)
9781933286938
Published: May 2016

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Authored by Amanda Glassman and Miriam Temin with the Millions Saved Team and Advisory Group, Millions Saved: News Cases of Proven Success in Global Health, shows what works—and what doesn’t—in global health.

In a foreword to the book, Bill Gates says, “I encourage global health experts, policymakers, funders, and anyone else interested in helping create a better world to read Millions Saved. I am confident you will come away with a clearer sense of what the world has learned about fighting some of our biggest health challenges—and how we can use that knowledge to save even more lives.”

Over the past fifteen years, people in low- and middle-income countries have experienced a health revolution—one that has created new opportunities and brought new challenges. It is a revolution that keeps mothers and babies alive, helps children grow, and enables adults to thrive.

Millions Saved: New Cases of Proven Success in Global Health chronicles the global health revolution from the ground up, showcasing twenty-two local, national, and regional health programs that have been part of this global change. The book profiles eighteen remarkable cases in which large-scale efforts to improve health in low- and middle-income countries succeeded, and four examples of promising interventions that fell short of their health targets when scaled-up in real world conditions. Each case demonstrates how much effort—and sometimes luck—is required to fight illness and sustain good health.

The cases are grouped into four main categories, reflecting the diversity of strategies to improve population health in low-and middle-income countries: rolling out medicines and technologies; expanding access to health services; targeting cash transfers to improve health; and promoting population-wide behavior change to decrease risk. The programs covered also come from various regions around the world: seven from sub-Saharan Africa, six from Latin America and the Caribbean, five from East and Southeast Asia, and four from South Asia.

“This is one of the most uplifting volumes on global health that I have come across. Solid evidence of cost-effective health interventions at scale gives us hope that millions more lives of the poorest and most vulnerable among us can be saved.”
—Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Former Finance Minister, Nigeria

“I encourage global health experts, policymakers, funders, and anyone else interested in helping create a better world to read Millions Saved. I am confident you will come away with a clearer sense of what the world has learned about fighting some of our biggest health challenges—and how we can use that knowledge to save even more lives.”
—Bill Gates, Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“This book serves as both an inspiration and as a practical tool—it reminds us that our work is constantly evolving and that our investments yield tangible change. These stories are proof that we are making a difference.”
—Jimmy Kolker, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs, United States Department of Health and Human Services

“Positive deviance is usually thought of as finding the successful examples in a community, learning what they do best, and then scaling up those behaviors. This book is about global positive deviance. The authors have found examples of exceptional success in global health that serve as lessons for all of us working in the field.”
—Stefano Bertozzi, Dean, UC Berkeley School of Public Health

“As we look forward, and begin the work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the chronicles of global health presented in this and previous editions of Millions Saved provide us with documented evidence on what works and does not work in global public health. The studies from Latin America showcase that targeted interventions addressing the needs of vulnerable and marginal populations can yield enormous dividends in health, social and economic development.”
—Carissa Etienne, Director, Pan American Health Organization

“I applaud the book’s range of major categories of interventions for improving health, its learnings from programs that disappointed at scale, and its incorporation of costs in the discussion about program effectiveness and impact. Importantly, the book draws conclusions about common features and key lessons, rather than only offering a compilation of interesting case studies, which is essential for the volume to be effective.”
—Jere Behrman, Professor, University of Pennsylvania