The international community's commitment to halve global poverty by 2015 has been enshrined in the first Millennium Development Goal. How global poverty is measured is a critical element in assessing progress towards this goal, and different researchers have presented widely-varying estimates. The chapters in this volume address a range of problems in the measurement and estimation of global poverty, from a variety of viewpoints. Topics covered include the controversies surrounding the definition of a global poverty line; the use of purchasing power parity exchange rates to map the poverty line across countries; and the quality, and appropriate use, of data from national accounts and household surveys. Both official and independent estimates of global poverty have proved to be controversial, and this volume presents and analyses the lively debate that has ensued.

In the last fifty years, average overall health status has increased more or less in parallel with a much celebrated decline in mortality, attributed mostly to poverty reduction, sanitation, nutrition, housing, immunization, and improved medical care. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that these achievements were not equally distributed. In most countries, while some social groups have benefited significantly, the situation of others has stagnated or may even have worsened. If health is a prerequisite to a person functioning as an agent, inequalities in health constitute inequalities in people's capability to function - a denial of equality of opportunity. So why should a concern with health equity be singled out from the pursuit of social justice more generally? Can existing theories of justice provide an adequate account of health equity? And what ethical problems arise in evaluating health inequalities? These are some of the important questions that this book addresses in building an interdisciplinary understanding of health equity. With contributions from distinguished philosophers, anthropologists, economists, and public-health specialists, it centres on five major themes: what is health equity?; health equity and social justice; responsibilities for health; ethical issues in health evaluation; and anthropological perspectives.

The international community's commitment to halve global poverty by 2015 has been enshrined in the first Millennium Development Goal. How global poverty is measured is a critical element in assessing progress towards this goal, and different researchers have presented widely-varying estimates. The chapters in this volume address a range of problems in the measurement and estimation of global poverty, from a variety of viewpoints. Topics covered include the controversies surrounding the definition of a global poverty line; the use of purchasing power parity exchange rates to map the poverty line across countries; and the quality, and appropriate use, of data from national accounts and household surveys. Both official and independent estimates of global poverty have proved to be controversial, and this volume presents and analyses the lively debate that has ensued.

This book is motivated by the idea that the cost of inaction can be much greater than the cost of action. Inaction can lead to serious negative consequences-for individuals, the economy, and society. The consequences of a failure to reduce extreme poverty, for example, typically include malnutrition, preventable morbidity, premature mortality, incomplete basic education, and other human and social development costs. In this volume, the authors seek to clarify exactly what is meant by "cost of inaction." They develop a methodology to account for the consequences and estimate the costs of a failure to respond to the needs of children and their families. Their conceptual framework emphasizes the need to select appropriate actions against which inaction is evaluated. The authors present the results of applying the cost of inaction (COI) approach to six case studies from Rwanda and Angola. The case studies highlight important differences between the COI approach and benefit-cost analysis as it is traditionally implemented.

It is widely recognized that health is influenced by a variety of social, economic and environmental factors, and not just by access to health care. The extensive empirical literature on the social determinants of- and inequalities in- health has yet to be matched by an appreciation of the normative underpinnings of health equity. Health equity expresses a commitment of public health to social justice, which raises a series of ethical issues. Why, if at all, should a concern with health equity be singled out from the pursuit of social justice in general? What is the extent of social-as opposed to individual-responsibility for health? What ethical problems arise in evaluating population health and health inequalities? How sensitive should the pursuit of health equity be to contextual considerations in contrast to universal values? In addressing these important questions, this volume examines the foundations of health equity. With contributions from distinguished philosophers, anthropologists, economists, and public-health specialists, it centres on five major themes: what is health equity?; health equity and its relation to social justice; health inequalities and responsibilities for health; ethical issues in health evaluation and prioritization; and anthropological perspectives on health equity.