The Grandest Challenge begins with a simple premise: that every person's life is of equal value, regardless of where in the world he or she lives. It also begins with an alarming fact: that in this age of spectacular scientific advances, it is still those who live in the developed world—mainly the west—who overwhelmingly benefit from our enormous new power to combat disease and enhance food, while those in the developing world are far more likely to die for lack of basic health care and inexpensive nutrition.
As personalized medicine, designer drugs, and high-quality nutrients become more readily available than ever in the richest parts of the world, distinguished doctors Abdallah Daar and Peter Singer urge us to pause and ask these vital questions: Who will have access to the life-enhancing advances of biotechnology? And who are these advances ultimately meant to help?
In this challenging, controversial, thought-provoking, and humane book, Daar and Singer inspire us to look more deeply at our new science, and at the revolution that is already changing all of our lives.

The grandest challenge : taking life-saving science from lab to village

Daar, Abdallah; Singer, Peter

Peter Singer, Abdallah Daar

A. S Daar

Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers

Random House, Incorporated

Delacorte Press

Knopf Canada

United States, United States of America

Toronto, ©2011

2013

The health-sciences equivalent of Thomas Friedman's bestseller The World is Flat, this inspiring and revelatory book by two of today's finest scientists shows how advances in global health will transform lives -- particularly in the developing world -- over the next decade. The Grandest Challenge begins with a simple premise: that every person's life is of equal value, regardless of where in the world he or she lives. It also begins with a simple, alarming fact: in this age of spectacular scientific advances, it is still those who live in the developed world -- in the West -- who benefit most from our enormous power to combat disease, and those in the developing world who are most likely to die for lack of basic, inexpensive care and nutrition. In this revelatory book, distinguished scientists Abdallah Daar and Peter Singer argue that the revolution in biotechnology can save millions of lives -- but only if we find a way to bring knowledge and treatments out of state-of-the-art labs and into the world's most remote villages. The doctors lead us on an eye-opening, globe-spanning tour, showing us in vivid detail how developing countries can and are breaking the cycle of dependence, exchanging knowledge, and creating solutions that work for their own people as well as the rest of us. ABDALLAH DAAR is a Professor of Public Health Sciences and of Surgery at the University of Toronto, and Director of Ethics and Commercialization at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health. PETER SINGER is Director of the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Publisher's note

296 pages ; 23 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-283) and index

2024-07-01