Some numbers

“In 1900, global average lifespan was just 31 years, and below 50 years in even the richest countries

By the mid mid-20th century, average life expectancy rose to 48 years

In 2005, average lifespan reached 65.6 years; over 80 years in some countries

By 2030, average life expectancy at birth for women in countries like the USA will be 85 years.”

…

“Almost 35 million deaths a year are caused by chronic diseases [out of a total of ~58 million deaths, US]. Of these, heart disease, stroke and related conditions together kill as many people as all infectious diseases combined.

Almost 50% of chronic disease deaths occur in people under 70 years of age; 80% are in developing countries.”

…

Change in rank order of global disease burden for the 15 leading causes of disease or injury 2002-2030:

Change in rank order of global deaths:

…

Over 24 million people currently have dementia, with 4.6 million new cases annually; over 60% occur in developing countries.

Number of dementia sufferers will double every 20 years

The rate of increase predicted to be 3 to 4 times higher in developing regions than in developed areas.

…

“About 30% of all 59 million [global] health workers are in USA and Canada.” [US and Canada make up ~ 5% of global population - 310 mio.+ 35 mio. / 6.900 mio.]

“Only 4% of health workers are in sub-Saharan Africa, which has 25% of global disease burden”

…

Here’s the link. And yeah, if the rate of increase in the number of bacteria and viruses that are resistant to the antibiotics we use to fight them continues and we’re unable to come up with new drugs to deal with them, many of these projections will be very far off the mark.

The ’4% of health workers in sub-Saharan Africa’ translates to 2,36 mio. health workers working in the region. The population of sub-Saharan Africa is ~800 mio. That’s ~340 people pr. health worker. In US/Canada, using the numbers given above the corresponding average is ~19,5.