PHA-Exch> Backlash to WHO CSDH Report

[Laura Turiano]

(Thanks to Dennis Raphael for finding and posting this on Spirit of 1848 and
sorry for the cross posting.)

>From the website of the National Center for Policy analysis
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=17246

THE WHO'S SICK MANIFESTO

The World Health Organization (WHO) claimed in August 2008 that "social
injustice is killing people on a grand scale."  Its major report on the
"social determinants of health" concluded that social and economic
inequality is a major global driver of disease, and only massive government
intervention and redistribution of wealth can improve the health of the
poor.  But the side effects of this prescription may be worse than the
disease, says the Fraser Institute.

In fact, WHO's recommendations seem to be aimed at undermining economic
growth and increasing unemployment, says Fraser:

Government regulations that make it difficult to fire employees make it
difficult to hire employees, especially inexperienced young workers.
Countries that have the lowest unemployment -- such as the United States and
Australia -- also have the most flexible labor markets, combined with
welfare states that incentivize work rather than indolence.
More baffling is the WHO's rejection of free trade; free trade has been
demonstrated beyond doubt to be the biggest weapon against poverty.
Since China recommenced international trade in the 1980s, 400 million people
have been lifted out of poverty.
Moreover, the doom-laden picture of global inequality is not as bad as WHO
suggests, says Fraser:

The number of poor people in the world has declined by 375 million since
1981, even while the total world population increased by 1.6 billion during
the same period.
The rate of economic growth in poor countries is now outstripping that of
rich countries for the first time since the 1960s, and global disparities in
health and education are rapidly improving.
Economic growth is causatively associated with improved health, largely
because it enables people to afford better living conditions, sanitation and
health technologies.
The real problem is that the poorest countries do not trade nearly enough,
says Fraser.  Nearly 70 percent of the world's trade barriers are imposed by
governments in poor countries on people in other poor countries.

Source: Philip Stevens, "The WHO's sick manifesto," Fraser Institute,
October 2008; Commission on Social Determinants of Health, "Closing the gap
in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of
health," World Health Organization, August 2008.

For text:
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/Commerce.Web/product_files/WHOsSickManifesto.
pdf

For WHO text:

http://www.who.int/social_determinants/final_report/en/index.html

For more on Health Issues:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=16
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