Dollars and disease: developing new perspectives for public health

In addressing current priorities in global health, particularly as embodied by the Millennium Development Goals, there are diverse opportunities for the analysis of infectious disease epidemiology to contribute to policy. Economic factors can play an important role in translating mathematical models to practical realities of policy formulation: for example, linking cost-benefit analysis to mathematical modelling has been key in evaluating and comparing different interventions for infectious disease control.

More broadly, however, changes in economic conditions can also profoundly impact disease transmission, whether in macroeconomic recessions (as in the case of the recent global financial crisis) or in the use of economic levers to facilitate disease control (such as global financing mechanisms). Addressing public health in these contexts – especially for diseases of poverty such as the ‘big three’ – calls for a deeper understanding of the role of economic systems in shaping disease transmission. Here I will survey some recent and ongoing work representing steps in this direction. I will draw on examples from market dynamics, operations modelling and economic recessions, as well as highlighting important questions for future work, aiming to understanding the role of economic systems in public health.