Expectations for a new WHO Director General: health in a rapidly changing environment

摘要

Awareness of the need for integrated approaches to health has grown with increasing realisation that human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health are intertwined and ultimately affect the livelihood and wellbeing of human beings, as well as planetary sustainability and resilience.1, 2, 3 The origins of many diseases are rooted in how we produce and use food, water, energy, and other natural resources for a growing population,4 but also the way our living environments and social and economic interactions evolve.5 Historically, this evolution was primarily driven by societies' desire to increase allocative efficiency and generate better welfare for human beings. In the past 3 decades, although millions of people have been lifted out of poverty, many poor sub-populations worldwide are mired in craters of inequality without opportunities.6 At the same time, many millions of people produce and consume far more than they need, and this overconsumption has been at enormous environmental and health cost.