The paper is one in a series of three international research articles examining this issue from different perspectives, with Horton the lead author on the paper on overall financing and planning.
"Our key message is that strengthening health systems as part of the Sustainable Development Goals can't be done without access to quality diagnostics" says Horton. "We have eight recommendations, and establishing a global alliance for diagnostics will be important to achieving all the other recommendations."
The other lead researchers are Michael Wilson of the University of Colorado and Shahin Sayed from Aga Khan University in Kenya. The series is being launched today with an event in New York City, where the researchers will be presenting their findings.
For more information on the series, please see The Lancet.