Health Inequalities in the New World Order

The international health gap is widening. The lagging health status of poor countries is largely due to the lack of material resources and barriers to economic development. The lack of resources and barriers to development reflect the dynamics of a single integrated global system, the New World Order, which is structured in a way that discriminates against the poor countries. The structured unfairness of the New World Order is a consequence of economic policies which have been forced on poor countries (through structural adjustment) and adopted by industrialised countries (under the slogans of neoliberalism). The ascendancy of these policies reflects a certain conceptual logic and a certain configuration of power. There are alternative accounts of the global economy which relativise the logic of neoliberalism and spotlight the immorality of those who deploy power to impose the structured unfairness of the New World Order. The political economy tradition provides theoretical models and descriptive frameworks which are essential resources for public health activists seeking to understand the wider context which frames inequality in health and to engage with the logic and the power of the New World Order. The international health gap is widening Life expectancy everywhere is increasing yet the health gap between the rich world and the poor world is widening. The mortality gap for the under fives has more than doubled since the 1950s. Age Group 195