全球健康的价值

SUSTAINABILITYNO. 3/2026 The Value of Global Health A study preview on the economic dimension of global health engagement Michael Bayerlein, Marco Alves, Nora Anton, Lars Eddelbüttel, Branwen J. Hennig,Rebecca Ingenhoff, Beate Kampmann ›Global health engagement generates multidi-mensional and reciprocal value, extending farbeyond short‑term financial returnsand en- ›Global health research and development actsas a powerful engine for domestic innovation,with high in‑country retention of funding trans- ›Recognising the full value of global health re-quires a reframing of the policy narrative, posi-tioning global health as a strategic investment ›Health‑related development assistance sup-ports trade and export growth, by reducingtransaction costs, building trust, and fostering Table of Contents Global Health Budgets Under Scrutiny..............................................................2 Evidence Preview on Economic Benefits............................................................3 Economic Growth Through Health Crises Aversion and Mitigation...................................................4Trade and Export Benefits from Development Assistance.................................................................4R&D Funding as Engine of Innovation and the Domestic Health Industry........................................4 Insights from Other Dimensions.........................................................................6 Policy Recommendations.....................................................................................7 References.............................................................................................................8 Global Health Budgets Under Scrutiny Over the past two decades, Germany has become a key supporter, funder, and champion ofglobal health. Through financial contributions, long-term bilateral and multilateral cooperation,and technical expertise, Germany has helped strengthen health systems worldwide and shape the In the context of geopolitical rivalries and the era of the “polycrisis”, policy choices are assessedthrough the narrow lens of national interest. As a result, international engagement is oftendeemed dispensable unless it serves immediate domestic objectives. In this discursive shift, globalcooperation is not deemed secondary but often outright delegitimised with immediate budgetary Against this backdrop, calls to sustain global health engagement face pressure to articulate theirreciprocal value. Our study, commissioned by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), finds that thevalue generated by global health engagement is multidimensional and should not be confined tofinancial returns. Rather, global health investments contribute to population health, better living The study systematically examines how Germany and its partners derive reciprocal benefit fromglobal health engagement. Many of these benefits materialise over longer time horizons andthrough indirect pathways not fully captured by standard economic metrics. While the study ad-dresses this issue through a multidimensional perspective that encompasses the areas health andsociety, science and research, as well as international relations, this preview focuses on the eco- Evidence Preview on Economic Benefits For our study, we analysed 90 literature contributions and conducted 12 interviews with globalhealth experts including researchers, policymakers, business representatives, policy advisors, anddiplomats in early 2026.1In this evidence preview, we highlight three main areas of our results 1.economic growth through health crises aversion and mitigation, 2.trade and export effects from development assistance, and 3.R&D funding as engine of innovation and the domestic health industry. Across these areas, the evidence suggests that benefits are not one-directional but materialisethrough reciprocal pathways that link global improvements to domestic economic and societal Economic Growth Through Health Crises Aversion and Mitigation The first area focuses on how global health engagement contributes to preventing and mitigatingglobal health crises. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, global GDP growth declined by 2.9 percent in2020, corresponding to an estimated loss of USD 2.48 trillion(World Bank, 2026a & 2026b), mark-ing the strongest downturn in global economic growth since the Great Depression(Gagnon et al.,2023). Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Fan et al.(2018)estimate expected annual globallosses in case of a global pandemic at around USD 500 billion, or approximately 0.6 percent of A similar macroeconomic risk is presented by antibiotic resistance (ABR), part of the broader chal-lenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). For 2019, Naylor et al.(2025)estimate global health-caresystem costs at USD 693 billion, alongside USD 194 billion in productivity losses. Interviewees ex-plicitly drew parallels between pandemics and ARM, describing it as a structurally similar eco-nomic ris