Medical Science and the Advancement of World Health
About this book
“From somewhere there has to come a determination that avoidable distress and diseases must be relieved and prevented regardless of nationalistic and sectarian politics... a decisive operation is overdue.” —from the Foreword by Sir Gordon Wolstenholme After the question of world hunger, the deteriorating state of world health despite unprecedented scientific advances stands as perhaps the greatest failure of our contemporary society. This far reaching book submits medicine and the medical profession to a critical reappraisal in light of the current state of affairs. Medical Science and the Advancement of World Health presents analyses and prescriptions for change from 22 internationally recognized experts in the health sciences. Together, they argue for a global vision of health policy that could attack problems based on an assessment of their damaging effect on humanity rather than regional/political self-interests. The book makes its case in six distinct • The Medical Cause—Placing medicine squarely in a world of remarkable scientific achievement and a world of people in need; • The Environment for Discovery—Potential for progress and traditional hindrances; • Medical Science—Advancements and worldwide applications; • World Health—Political, cultural, psychosocial, and economic constraints on progress, and paradoxes in current medical and health care • Ethical Considerations—The advancement of medical science and technology as reflected in research with children, heart transplantation, and the use of animals in medical research; • The Bottom Line—Ecology, resources, population, nutrition, and medical research. Medical Science and the Advancement of World Health dramatizes the urgent need for greater advancement in medical science together with a new awareness of the interrelationship of all world health issues. According to the contributors, society from the scientist to the politician must displace apathy, overcome resistance to new concepts of healing, and lay aside religious taboos. Public concern must be aroused and the political will stimulated to address seriously the challenges of advancing world health. It is a book that is relevant to every corner of the medical-scientific community.