Devex: Opinion: Better health means better security — and more sustainable development
Kate Schecter, president and CEO of World Neighbors, Inc.

“…[I]f a society is not focused on improving health indicators and creating a stable and accessible health care system, development efforts will not last. … [Health] must remain a particular focus of international community efforts. Foundations and governments have poured billions into preventing diseases, seeking cures, and strengthening health systems. Through these efforts, incredible historic achievements have wiped out scourges that have ravaged humanity for millennia, including smallpox, rinderpest, polio, and Guinea worm disease (or dracunculiasis). … Health, development, and security tend to advance and improve together. … In a globalized world in which disease crosses borders on a regular basis and conflict threatens new and frightening levels of destruction and suffering, we all have an interest in the type of development that results in a healthier and more secure world” (1/25).