International health in a globalized development perspective

Eleven issues highlight the relation between globalization and health: 1. Globalization endangers health. Risks are spreading. AIDS and SARS are examples. 2. Global alliances are emerging to protect health, especially fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. 3. In many millennium declarations, health was declared a worldwide development goal. 4. The international development cooperation for health is ailing everywhere despite three good reasons to make health a priority. 5. Good health supports good politics and national security. 6. The lack of security in health is an essential trap of poverty and increases population growth. 7. Health has essential macroeconomic benefits. Leading economists have made this clear. 8. Thus, health and education are true keys to social and economic development. Brains and bodies are the most essential factors of production. 9. “Empowerment in security creates opportunities”. This new motto underlines the strategic importance of health literacy and social health insurance. 10. International or global health is a leitmotiv of this decade of development. 11. Globalization requires powerful ethics to gain a human face. Professional ethics and a rebellious civil society ought to be allies. Current globalization is both a threat and a positive challenge, indeed.