Global Economic and Social Progress of Medicine

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. Despite impressive scientific advances and massive economic growth over the past 60 years, disparities in wealth and health have persisted and, in many places, widened. As a result, the hope of achieving significantly improved health for a greater proportion of the world's people-one of the most pressing problems of our time-has become an ever more distant prospect.