Remembrance of things past

“Marcel and Robert were impatient to leave the train when it stopped briefly at the small station. The Parisians usually walked to the Amiots' house from the station, carrying the blankets that kept them warm on the train, along with their parcels and suitcases down the rue du Chemin de fer, lined on both sides with linden trees. Turing left at the rue de l'Oiseau flesché, they passed in front of the ancient hostelry of the same name. Marcel always noticed the optician's sign consisting of a large pair of spectacles, one lens blue, the other orange, unaware that one day he would transport these glasses hanging high above the optician's shop into the fictional Combray, where they became a symbol of his book and his conception of the novel.” (Carter WC. Marcel Proust. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000:26.)

Shifting emphasis at the WHO

It all started with a 1996 report by Christopher Murray of Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organisation, and WHO researcher Allan Lopez. Investigating the health problems of the world's population, these investigators shifted their emphasis from simply tabulating the greatest killers to those diseases that produced the greatest burden on society. This, not surprisingly, led to a much greater emphasis on chronic diseases such as cancer and mental illness. Moreover, this report predicted that by the year 2020 non-communicable diseases would cause 73% of all deaths worldwide, and only a minimal number of deaths would be a result of infectious disease (15%).

As a result, there is now a shift …