5. Access to Good Healthcare
UN Ranking: 3
WEF Ranking: 10
Average Score: 6.5
A simple thing like healthcare that many of us take for granted in Western countries continues to be a major challenge for the rest of the world. The UN ranked this as the third-most serious problem in the world, while it also made the top-10 of the WEF’s list. Among the biggest problems in the world that can be solved with inventions are how to further reduce infant mortality rates and the spread of communicable diseases. While both of these have fallen sharply over the past two decades, there is a lot more work yet to do. Cancer also remains a serious threat to human life, but companies like Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) are working tirelessly to develop treatments that could eviscerate cancer completely, with the success of their breast cancer drug Ibrance showing how quickly advancements can be made in healthcare. The drug is on the verge of achieving blockbuster status, and several competitors are also readying their own variations of the treatment, which could possibly improve upon it even further.
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