xv Preface The definition of "health" as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" as adopted by the World Health Organization in New York, in June 1946, at its inceptional meeting has proved an elusive global goal. While many countries have enjoyed the benefits of health care systems and social and economic policies that have improved life expectancy and reduced mortality and the WHO has had single significant victories in eradication of disease (e.g. smallpox and polio), many countries still have high maternal and infant/child mortality, struggle with infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and face critical health human resources shortages. The UN's ambitious eight Millennium Development Goals target poverty and hunger, ma- ternal and child health, gender equality, primary education, environmental sustainability, infectious diseases, and global initiatives for development ­ perhaps the first global effort to achieve "health" in