ABSTRACT
Globalization has affected human health in complex ways with positive as well as negative implications. Through trade and military conquest, native populations were exposed to communicable diseases previously unknown to them, sometimes intentionally, which in some regions decimated the autochthonous inhabitants. 2 The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a contemporary example with particularly devastating effects on the economies, communities and households in sub-Saharan Africa. In a different vein, the global expansion of a consumerist culture has brought with it an increase in lifestyle-related diseases and industrial pollution, while chemical contamination associated with agricultural mass production, and toxic waste dumping have had worldwide health impacts. On the other hand, globalization has made possible the spread of medical and pharmaceutical advances, leading to the eradication of some diseases and the diminished incidence of others. Likewise, there have been widespread gains in food production as a result of the development of more disease-resistant and more nutritious strains, and tele-medicine has made available diagnostic tools previously unavailable in remote areas. To be sure, these benefits have not been equally shared; however, the reasons for this inequality are political and economic, rather than inherent in globalization. Finally, also in association with globalization, new organizations and programmes have been established whose missions of health promotion are explicitly international in scope. A good example in the context of human settlements is the Healthy Cities Programme of the World Health Organization. 3
