An alternative paradigm for development

The current dominant model of development, based on market liberalisation and commercial globalisation, has conspicuously failed to deliver Health for All. The rate of health improvement in lowand middle-income countries (LMICs) has slowed dramatically over the past thirty years, while we have been brought to the brink of imminent environmental disaster as a result of climate change. This chapter briefly assesses the performance of the current model against the three critical yardsticks of poverty, health and climate change; proposes basic principles for an alternative model of development; and provides an outline of one such alternative. The ideas presented here are not definitive. They would require substantial modification for application according to the particular economic, social, geographical, political and cultural circumstances of any individual country. More importantly, this chapter is intended to demonstrate the possibility of visualising a model of development which can deliver more effectively on health and other social objectives, by thinking outside and beyond the parameters of mainstream economics and of historical precedents.