More bednets over children as they sleep. More TB drugs available for supervised treatment. More trained attendants at deliveries. The certification date for global eradication of polio is 2005, and we are on track to meet that target. The remaining 2.8 million leprosy sufferers could be cured.
Social reconstruction is the other side of the relief coin.
We need to stay on. Dr Brundtland committed WHO to more intensive work to make pregnancy safer, to reduce ill health and to promote food safety. She focused on the plight of the poor in today's world. About half of the world's population is so poor that it cannot afford proper housing, adequate health care or education for their children. Malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis continue to plague many parts of the world, particularly the developing world.