ABSTRACT
The organizing structure that have adopted is essentially one of changes in human health over time, with the focus being on the dramatic changes of the modern era. Space constraints limit both the width and depth of our discussion, but this chapter conveys some idea of the great health journey that humankind has completed to date. The chapter focuses on the roles of national income and income inequality in determining health levels around the world. The term 'epidemiologic(al) transition' refers to the shift in the major causes of death from infectious diseases and famine to chronic, degenerative ailments associated with the long-term decline in mortality from high to low levels. The classic statements of demographic and epidemiological transition theory convey the impression of seemingly uninterrupted human health improvement and cause of death change. The last several decades, however, have shown there is nothing guaranteed about humankind enjoying progressively longer lives.
