Ask 10 paediatricians to define their global child health priorities and, eventually, you'll get somewhere in the region of 50 answers as each reworks his/her original definition. This is neither good nor bad, simply a reflection of the complexities of, and emotions raised by, such a debate.

Even the ‘easy’ part, the definition of health itself, is beset by the number of outcomes by which it can be measured: from the relatively crude mortality and morbidity rates to the more subtle but controversial quality-adjusted …