Reflections on World Health Day

Martin Khor

What is the most precious thing in the world which unfortunately we take for granted and realise its true value when it is impaired? Good health, of course.

In the last Global Trends, I wrote about the importance of water on World Water Day.

On April 7 we celebrated World Health Day. Water and health are the most critical things in our daily life.

In the 1980s, the World Health Organisation’s director-general Half­dan Mahler steered through a declaration with the popular slogan “Health for all by the year 2000”.

We crossed into the 21st century without realising that noble goal. Although health has improved in most countries, due mainly to cleaner water and sanitation and also better treatment, much remains to be done.

In recent years, the slogan “Health for All” has been strengthened by the recognition in the United Nations of health as a human right. It has been further boosted by the adoption of the principle of universal healthcare.

This means that no one should be deprived of healthcare, even if he is too poor to afford it.

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Leaders Pledge Action to Control Superbugs

Martin Khor

AT the opening of the Summit of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept 20, it sounded much like the swan song of two of the regular stalwarts of this annual affair.

It is the last General Assembly to be attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and United States President Barack Obama.

Both made interesting speeches. Ban listed all the woes afflicting the world, especially terrorism, while praising the Paris agreement and the sustainable development goals as big achievements of his eight years as the UN leader.

Obama, sounding like a professor, gave a lengthy analysis of the state of the world and the role of the United States, earning a laugh when he said it sometimes seemed the United States was being blamed for all the ills of the world and at the same time it was being asked to solve all its problems.

At the lunch for heads of state and organisations, Ban and Obama praised each other for their leadership in the past eight years.

Someone at my table wondered aloud what would happen to next year’s lunch if Donald Trump, who is known to dislike and distrust the UN, won the US election. Perhaps, as lea­der of the host country, he would have the traditional lunch cancelled.

This year’s UN summit will be remembered most for its high-level event on anti-microbial resistance (AMR), held on Sept 22, with many heads of government and ministers speaking on the need to fight this crisis.

The leaders adopted a landmark Political Declaration on AMR that recognised that antibiotic resistance is the “greatest and most urgent global risk” and that “due to AMR many 20th century achievements are being gravely challenged, particularly the reduction in illness and death from infectious diseases…”

This is the first ever statement by the heads of all the countries that recognises the AMR crisis and in which they pledge to take action.

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Facing Up to the World’s Health Crises

Martin Khor

The global health situation is facing many critical challenges, and urgent action is needed to prevent crises from boiling over. This is the impression one gets from this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva last week.

The WHA is the world’s prime public health event, attended by 3,500 delegates, including Health Ministers from most of the 194 countries.

In her opening speech, World Health Organisation director-general Dr Margaret Chan gave an overview of what went right and what is missing in global health.

First the good news: 19,000 fewer children dying every day, a 44% drop in maternal mortality, the 85% cure rate for tuberculosis, and 15 million people living with HIV now receiving therapy, up from just 690,000 in 2000.

Then Chan described how health has become a globalised problem, with air pollution becoming a transboundary health hazard, and drug-resistant pathogens being spread through travel and food trade.

The recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks showed how global health emergencies can quickly develop. The world is not prepared to cope with the dramatic resurgence of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

Chan said the global health landscape is being shaped by three slow-motion disasters: climate change, antimicrobial resistance and the rise of chronic non-communicable diseases.

She described these as man-made disasters created by policies that place economic interests above health and environmental concerns.

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An Era of Global Turbulence

Martin Khor

When the Cold War ended two decades ago, people throughout the world looked forward at last to a period of peace.

A political scientist wrote a book predicting “the end of history”. Conflict between ideologies and big powers was over, as those advocating the free market and democracy had won.

The illusion of the end of conflict is over. Last week, at the annual summit of the United Nations, “global turbulence” was much the theme of the leaders gathered there.

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Junk Food Games and Schoolchildren

Sunita Narain

“There is nothing called junk food. The problem with obesity lies with children who do not exercise enough. What is needed is for them to run and jump, and to do this they need to consume high-calorie food. So, food high in salt, sugar and fat is good for them.” This is what was argued vehemently and rudely by representatives of the food industry in the committee, set up under directions from the Delhi High Court to frame guidelines for junk food in the country.

On the face of it there was no one from the junk food industry in the committee. In the early meetings, we only knew that there were members of two associations who were representing the food industry in the committee. But as discussions got under way, it became clear that the big junk food industry was present in the meeting. We learnt that the member representing the National Restaurant Association of India was a top official from Coca-Cola—the world’s most powerful beverage company that is at the centre of the junk food debate globally. The other grouping, All India Food Processors Association, was represented by Swiss food giant Nestle, which has commercial interest in instant noodles and other junk food.

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Angus Deaton and James K. Galbraith to Receive Leontief Prize

Timothy A. Wise

Timothy A. Wise, the Director of the Research and Policy Program at the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) and a regular Triple Crisis contributor, announces GDAE’s annual Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought.

Today my institute will award its annual Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought to economists Angus Deaton and James K. Galbraith for their work on poverty, inequality, and well-being. Angus Deaton’s most recent book, The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, is a must-read on the issue. James K. Galbraith’s Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis locates inequality in the context of the recent financial crisis.

As Global Development and Environment Institute co-director Neva Goodwin said in awarding the prizes, “Angus Deaton has demonstrated that inequality is about much more than income differences, focusing on how inequality affects the health and well-being of societies. James Galbraith has shown that inequality isn’t an outcome driven by factors outside of our control, but instead is often a direct result of the policy choices we make.”

You can read more about the Leontief Prize and its illustrious laureates, and about about this year’s prize. You can also watch the ceremony live, including lectures from Deaton and Galbraith on the theme “Health, Inequality, and Public Policy.” The stream below will run from 12:30-2:00 EDT on April 4, 2014.

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