Copenhagen, 14 May  –   Under the auspices of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a gathering of 60+ prominent economists — including four Nobel Laureates — has produced a ranking of the best investments that are likely to deliver the biggest bang for the buck in terms of improving the lives of the world’s poorest people.

Bjørn Lomborg, head of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, remarked: “It may not sound sexy, but solving the problems of diarrhoea, worms and malnutrition will do good for more of the world’s poor than other more grandiose interventions. That is the conclusion of some of the world’s brightest minds, who came together for this year’s Copenhagen Consensus. If the world’s policymakers and humanitarian charities were to reorient their priorities around adopting these and other smart solutions, the world would be a better place.”

Today, more than 100 million children start their lives with inadequate nutrition, impairing their mental abilities and causing physical defects. To provide both short- and long-term benefits, this sum of money would provide micronutrients, complementary foods, treatments for wormsand diarrhoeal diseases, and behaviour change programs. This would reduce chronic under-nutrition by 36 per cent in developing countries. It would also improve cognitive functions, increase learning and in adulthood increase incomes 24%.

annually

These funds would prevent 300,000 child deaths if used to extend the Global Fund’s Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria financing mechanism that makes combination therapies cheaper for poor countries. This approach also safeguards the most effective malaria drug for the future. Later in 2012, donors will decide whether to renew this facility; the Copenhagen Consensus findings add to the case for them to do so.

Spending $1 billion annually would save one million children.

This sum could treat 300 million children to rid them of parasitic intestinal worms, which are detrimental to their wellbeing.  Free of these parasites, children would be more nourished, more alert, likely to stay in school longer and generate more income as adults.

By increasing investment in agricultural R&D, this solution potentially could yield many benefits to both people and the environment.  Not only would it reduce hunger by increasing food production and reducing food prices, but also it would protect more biodiversity by reducing the need for forest land to be converted into agricultural land. Simultaneously, it would help in the fight against climate change, because forests lock up carbon.

For less than $1 billion a year, the establishment of effective early warning systems for natural disasters in developing countries could alleviate the disaster damage and avoid long-term economic damage resulting from catastrophes.

Hepatitis B falls in the category of chronic diseases, which increasingly affect people in the developing world as their lifespan improves.  Hepatitis B is the major cause of liver cancer worldwide. For $122 million, we could achieve global coverage and avoid 150,000 deaths.

If these medicines were more widely available in developing countries, up to up to 300,000 heart-attack deaths could be prevented each year.

This would serve to better understand the technology’s risks, costs, and benefits, but also act as an important potential insurance against global warming.

The AIDS epidemic which threatens every aspect of development for dozens of countries. A vaccine would be the ultimate preventative tool.