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Applies the medical model in the form of lung cancer to analogize general global well-being with an eye toward future world health catastrophe. It is argued that economic globalization is widening the gap between rich & poor thus widening the gap between healthy & unhealthy, setting the stage for coming health crises. Several suggestions underpinned by notions of social justice & ethics, are proffered to curtail the global trajectory toward catastrophe. It is suggested that an increasingly interdependent world & the current inadequate realist morality call for a long-term perspective on rational self-interest involving sustainable development, human rights, & peaceful globalization from below. 2 Figures, 2 Graphs, 45 References. R. Whyte

"Improving and promoting global health continues to be one of the largest and most important challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. The task has become even more difficult since our first edition appeared almost a decade ago, given the accelerated destruction of the planet and the associated compounded threats to health that now present themselves. This second edition aims to showcase some of these new and escalating threats, along with illuminating some of the many other obstacles we now face in partnering globally to solve these formidable challenges. By global health we mean the health of all people globally within sustainable and healthy living (local and global) conditions. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, we need to understand, among other things, the value systems, modes of reasoning, and power structures that have driven and shaped the world over the past century. We also need to appreciate the unsustainability of many of our current consumption patterns and the driving forces that lie behind these before we can address threats to the health and lives of current and particularly future generations. The world and how we live in it have been changing dramatically over many centuries, but in the past sixty years change has been more rapid and profound than ever in the past. Many positive changes have been associated with impressive economic growth, advances in science and medicine and in social policies regarding access to health promotion. These include greater focus on a primary health care approach with more equitable access, expansion of social programmes to improve living conditions, and a welcome increasing emphasis on the rights of all individuals to be equally respected"--

"What can be done about the poor state of global health? How are global health challenges intimately linked to the global political economy and to issues of social justice? What are our responsibilities and how can we improve global health? Global Health and Global Health Ethics addresses these questions from the perspective of a range of disciplines, including medicine, philosophy and the social sciences. Topics covered range from infectious diseases, climate change and the environment to trade, foreign aid, food security and biotechnology. Each chapter identifies the ways in which we exacerbate poor global health and discusses what we should do to remedy the factors identified. Together, they contribute to a deeper understanding of the challenges we face, and propose new national and global policies. Offering a wealth of empirical data and both practical and theoretical guidance, this is a key resource for bioethicists, public health practitioners and philosophers"--Provided by publisher

Although the resources and knowledge for achieving improved global health exist, a new, critical paradigm on health as an aspect of human development, human security, and human rights is needed. Such a shift is required to sufficiently modify and credibly reduce the present dominance of perverse market forces on global health. New scientific discoveries can make wide-ranging contributions to improved health; however, improved global health depends on achieving greater social justice, economic redistribution, and enhanced democratization of production, caring social institutions for essential health care, education, and other public goods. As with the quest for an HIV vaccine, the challenge of improved global health requires an ambitious multidisciplinary research program.

The concept of the dual loyalty physicians may have to both a patient and a third party is important in elucidating the obligations of physicians. The extent to which loyalty may be deflected from a patient to a third party (e.g., an insurance company or a prison commander) is greatly underestimated and has not attracted significant scholarly analysis.

Although the 20th century saw a major expansion of the world economy, impressive military/security advances, and spectacular progress in science and technology, the grim reality in the first decade of the new millennium is that human life, health, and security remain under severe threat—but now from the adverse effects of inexorably widening disparities in wealth, health, and knowledge within and between nations. The gap between the income of the richest and poorest 20% of people in the world increased from a 9-fold difference at the beginning of the 20th century to 30-fold by 1960—and since then to over 80-fold by 2000 (Figure 1). Although life expectancy has improved dramatically worldwide during this century, this trend has been reversed in the poorest countries in recent years [1]. The challenge of achieving improved health for a greater proportion of the world's population is one of the most pressing problems of our time and is starkly illustrated by the threat of infectious diseases.