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Targeting a Common Enemy

William H. Foege, MD

JAMA. 1991;266(5):702.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

What is medicine's greatest gift to the world? It is tempting to list vaccines, antibiotics, or procedures, but these individual breakthroughs are simply pieces of a much larger contribution. Medicine's greatest gift to the world is mounting evidence that our world is not a fatalistic one. We can have a positive impact on our own mortality. The average American has seen life expectancy increase by over 7 hours for every day that has elapsed since January 1,1990.

As medicine frees people from unnecessary suffering, compromised quality of life, and early death, it reaffirms a belief in a cause-and-effect world. It makes it possible to plan a rational future.

High death rates for infants and children before the 20th century were thought by many to be due to natural laws. Medicine contradicts that fatalism daily, allowing children to live to school age, to marriage, and, finally, to the birth of their . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Carter Center of Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to the Carter Center of Emory University, One Copenhill, Atlanta, GA 30307 (Dr Foege).

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