The uneven distribution of health care

Wealth is more concentrated in Latin America and poverty rates are four times those of countries with similar gross domestic products, said David Brandling-Bennett, M.D., deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization, speaking at grand rounds at Epidemiology and Public Health in February. That adds up to poor health care for large segments of the population. “We are not attending to the needs of those who are the neediest,” he said. Governments, he continued, must ensure that basic health services of adequate quality are provided equitably. Of the $2.3 trillion spent on health care annually around the world, 90 percent is spent in industrialized nations. “We are not addressing the issue of disparity in health.”