Health and Medicine
Social Issues
Despite the huge achievements of modern sanitation and medicine, humanity faces vast and costly health challenges. New epidemics, environmental illnesses and sensitivities, side effects of drugs and unhealthy lifestyles are affecting the lives of billions. Present health education systems are inadequate for making people sufficiently aware of the variety of health threats. The potential for popular participation of a well-informed public in health care is greatly underrated.
What are the priorities for medical, economic and political reforms to optimise health? How can medical training be improved so that patients are treated as living beings, rather than collections of symptoms? How can different schools of diagnosis and healing be better integrated to help patients choose appropriate methods of healing? How can our right to be protected from potentially toxic new chemicals be ensured in an economically globalised world?
