BMJ 1998;316:1401-1402 ( 9 May )

Editorials

Economic globalisation and its effect on health

Some diseases could be eradicated for the cost of a couple of fighter planes

Letters p 1456

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

According to World Bank figures Tanzania ranks as one of the world's poorest countries,1 yet its commercial centre, Dar es Salaam, is one of the most expensive cities in the world in which to live2---because expatriates on developed world salaries have helped to fuel living costs. An even greater irony is that for Tanzania and many developing nations net flows of wealth remain, as in colonial days, from poor to rich.3 Far more is spent on servicing national debt than on services such as health or education.4 These are perhaps some of the less expected features of globalisation of the world economy.

At the eighth congress of the World Federation of Public Health Associations last October in Arusha, Tanzania, a recurring theme was the advance of globalisation and its adverse effects on health.5 Professor Kris Heggenhougen of Harvard Medical School argued that the continual search for cheaper labour by . . . [Full text of this article]
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Placing poverty at the centre of health initiatives
BMJ 1998 316: 0. [Full Text]

How the cycle of poverty and ill health can be broken
Rodrigo Guerrero, Michel Jancloes, John D Martin, Andrew Haines, Dan Kaseje, and Martin P Wasserman
BMJ 1998 316: 1456. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Homedes, N., Ugalde, A. (2003). Globalization and Health at the United States-Mexico Border. AJPH 93: 2016-2022 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Lee, A, Abdullah, A S M (2003). Severe acute respiratory syndrome: a challenge for public health practice in Hong Kong. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 57: 655-658 [Abstract] [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Globalisation and the immigrant worker
Dan Michaeli
bmj.com, 9 May 1998 [Full text]
Who decides health policy ?
Dorothy Logie
bmj.com, 9 May 1998 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ