Research for health: signposts to
health and health equity
Th e Constitution of the World Health
Organization (WHO) came into force in
1948, defining health comprehensively
as “a state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not merely the absence
of disease or infirmity” and affi rming that
“the enjoyment of the highest attainable
standard of health is one of the fundamental
rights of every human being without
distinction of race, religion, political belief,
economic or social condition”.
Sixty years on, and thirty years after the
1978 Alma Ata Declaration launched the
movement for Primary Health Care and
the – sadly unmet - aspiration of “Health
for ALL by the Year 2000”, the world
is still striving to achieve that standard
of good health and well-being that is
the right of every person. In particular,
major differences in life expectancy and
burden of disease within and between
populations around the globe are markers
of persistent health inequities.