ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the effects of public policy on private lives in the global system of the 1980s and 1990s. It uses health to explore human development in Venezuela and Cuba, two countries on the periphery of the global capitalist system. The chapter seeks to illustrate how global economic forces influence similar processes at the national level. At the end of the 20th century, Latin America remained the most unequal region in the world with an extreme concentration of wealth and income at the top. Health is primarily an economic and social problem, not a medical one. Social and economic advantage correlates powerfully with health, and the affluent live longer, healthier lives. Life expectancy and health in wealthy nations are far better than in poorer nations. Infant mortality, under-five mortality and life expectancy remained nearly at the US level.
