The year 2017 witnessed multiple changes and fresh new challenges for the global health community. The WHO and the Global Fund elected new leadership at their helm, several promising public and private initiatives were launched, at a time where traditional donor funding is shrinking mainly due to anticipated U.S. government budget cuts to global health programs. Despite the prevailing context of uncertainty, we at Dalberg have selected two global health areas, old and new, that warrant a closer look: global health security and city-level focus to improve population health.

Atop the gleaming Four Seasons Hotel in Worli, Mumbai, wealthy locals and affluent tourists sit on plush couches and sip $18 cocktails. From this glamorous rooftop bar, five-star hotels, gleaming condominium towers, and other elements of the modern Mumbai skyline are visible, and that view is a testament to the city’s growing wealth. But a closer look reveals the many slums that dot the Mumbai landscape—slums that are stacked alongside highways, nestled under bridges, and even strewn across sidewalks.

This blog draws on findings from a new report from Dalberg and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), ‘C/Can 2025: City Cancer Challenge – Financing Sustainable City Cancer Treatment Infrastructure’. The publication was released at Davos, the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, as part of the UICC’s City Cancer Challenge (C/Can 2025) initiative.

The threat of cancer has never been higher. Cancer now kills more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined, and by 2025 most of its victims will be found outside of high-income countries.