Abstract
Health care policies at the national and international levels have met with mixed success. On the one hand, life expectancies in many countries have increased as a result of improvements in perinatal care, immunisation campaigns, trauma treatment, and other advancements in medicine and health care.
On the other hand, widening gaps between rich and poor, spiralling costs, the commercialisation of health care, and the emergence of new pathogens and diseases have contributed to health care crises at the global level, even in developed and wealthy countries. The deterioration of environmental support structures and relentless population growth add to the problems globally and render sustainable health care for all an extremely challenging goal.
This chapter discusses some approaches by which governments of rich and poor countries pursue that goal. Although potential solutions for developing countries are very different from those befitting the developed world, only a coordinated, cooperative approach promises a chance of health security success in the long term.