WHO sees four main priorities for action in the future. The aim is to create self-help environments in which men and women can solve their own problems, establishing and sustaining a development process that will ensure a brighter future for their children. The second priority is poverty reduction through better health. Investing in health saves money as well as lives. It must be accepted that expenditure on health is not a drain on national resources but a prerequisite for economic and social progress.
Poor health inhibits an individual's ability to work, reduces earning capacity and deepens poverty.
In addition to the economic aspect there is another side to poverty which must be corrected - social discrimination and low status for some groups, particularly women. At the same time it is recognized that ensuring equal access to health care, a traditional goal of public health authorities, will not necessarily reduce gaps in health status insofar as disease is determined by individual behaviour and by the working and living environment. Any genuine improvement in health will thus call for integrated, intersectoral action in addressing all the determinants of ill-health. The training of health professionals will have to be reoriented accordingly. The fourth priority is to strengthen national capabilities for emergency relief and humanitarian assistance in the health sector.