Women, health, and globalization: A critical social movement perspective

The identification and international spread of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in early 2003, made it is easy to see the globalization of health and disease. But what the intense media coverage of SARS shows, as Paul Farmer notes eloquently in his article on ‘SARS and Inequality’ in The Nation,¹ is one of the most troubling aspects of global health policies in the last decade, namely the hijacking of health as a means for global trade and economic growth. Were SARS not so prevalent in regions vital to global trade (China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong), would it be receiving the same attention?.