ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that health is a basic and universal human right. They must be the requirements of all humans for human development, regardless of age, race, sex, class, nation, or ability. Hence the essence of a human right is a fundamental requirement for human development. The term universal human rights' and an emergent global consensus about human rights is at least partly rooted in globalisation and an emerging cosmopolitan' consciousness. The chapter also argues G8 responsibility for global health to include as central to the analysis of G8 health performance a consideration of its governance of the global political economy more generally. Another complex issue directly relevant to human health is food security. It acknowledged that malnutrition and under nutrition are responsible for about one third of the disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa, and that the great majority of the burden of disease associated with under-nutrition arises from chronic nutrition as a result of household food insecurity'.
