The world health panorama presents evident inequalities among the countries, both with respect to the nosological standards regarding the organization and effectiveness of health systems. They are most dramatic problems in poor countries, severely afflicting underprivileged populations, gathered on the urban fringe or living in remote areas. Everywhere, the consequences of non-rational incorporation of technological innovations become increasingly more severe. The characteristic of this scenario in historical perspective is the dissociation between the scientific, technological and economic advancement and global inequalities in living conditions of mankind, segmented among the few beneficiaries of development and deleted ones, who face more their burden.
It would be reasonable to assume international cooperation public policies to adopt ethical guidelines aimed at overcoming economic inequities and social injustices. Nevertheless, they reflect predominantly different interests on more developed countries over the others, receivers of this foreign aid, so that international solidarity helps, paradoxically, to the aggravation of inequalities in that context.
South-South cooperation has emerged as a new paradigm that aims at overcoming these conflicts and the strengthening of the South front of the dependence on the North. However, there is a risk of this approach become just another strategy or tool for the unbalanced power accumulation of national States in the global system.
The proposal of the course is to deepen the reflection on these issues, particularly as regards the procedures for cooperation between countries in the area of health, where bioethical issues linked to highlight methods, operations and results of these initiatives.