LONDON — The World Health Organization claimed this week that "social injustice is killing people on a grand scale." Its major report on the "Social Determinants of Health" concludes that social and economic inequality is a major global cause of disease and that only massive government intervention and redistribution of wealth can improve the health of the poor. But, as with many prescriptions, the side effects would be worse than the disease.
The WHO report revolves around the idea that relative poverty — as opposed to absolute poverty — is an important determinant of health. This is based on medical research conducted in the 1990s that purported to show that people lower on the socio-economic ladder suffer more stress and therefore more disease than their wealthier counterparts. Furthermore, the poor are more likely to have worse diets, suffer the stress of greater job insecurity and so on.
In response, the WHO recommends a host of policies to iron out inequality. These include squeezing the rich with tax; universal government-owned health and education; greater government control of urban development, businesses and the sale of food and alcohol; stricter employment regulations; beefed up government welfare and an end to global free trade.