Tuesday, September 02, 2008
By Philip Stevens
The World Health Organization claimed this week that "social injustice is killing people on a grand scale." Its major report on the "Social Determinants of Health" concludes that social and economic inequality is a major global cause of disease and that only massive government intervention and redistribution of wealth can improve the health of the poor. But, as with many prescriptions, the side effects would be worse than the disease.