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Globalized integration in trade and finances has required political adjustments that drive traditional public services to become commodities subject to market conditions. Most nations have reduced their commitments to provide publicly funded health, education, and social securities, all of which are being progressively privatized. This trend has deepened the gap between rich and poor, leading to increasing social and health inequalities that are impervious to traditional public health policies. Summit meetings and international declarations have acknowledged the need to fund external aid to underdeveloped populations, academia lavishly proposing global justice and health equity based on vaguely conceived pleas for solidarity and fraternity. The appealing ideas of global ethics have clashed with economic realities—Realpolitik—as international aid dwindles beyond expectations and promises, while theoretical schemes are relegated to the realm of utopia.Health and health care gradients and disparities are on the rise, fueled by an epidemiological turn from infectious to chronic degenerative diseases that are associated with socioeconomic determinants and aggravated by man-made risks, such as accidents, ecological deterioration, violence, health disrupting life styles, and unwholesome individual behavior. The reassessment of cultural and personal values indicates the need for applied ethical perspectives to become incorporated into the deliberations of public policies, thus bringing to the forefront the development of bioethics in public health.

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-2026-2_1

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