ABSTRACT
Health continues to be a matter of considerable public concern. In public health, the pressure to measure health outcomes, particularly as a means of gauging improvements in health, reflects this interest. Efforts to improve population health take place in a context of complex and shifting patterns of disease and illness. Chronic degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancers have become major causes of mortality and morbidity in high-income countries. Since the 1970s, a number of new diseases have emerged, estimated at one or more per year (WHO, 2007). Recent examples include SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and H1N1 influenza (swine flu). The emergence of the UN and the WHO in the post-war period reflects the strong degree of consensus among world leaders to work together for world peace and social progress, of which human rights, including the right to health, were considered a fundamental part.
