Includes bibliographical references and index.

How the world starts getting better. Death, disease, and the fall of prehistoric man. The path to better health in wealthier nations. A better world begins as a more unequal one -- Diseases of conquest and colony. The colonial and military roots of global health. The path to better health in poorer nations. Death and demography. The legacy of ebola. The difference that health aid makes -- Diseases of childhood. A child survival revolution. China's other great leap forward. Is healthier wealthier? The (potential) dividends of demography. Sunny in Nairobi, with a chance of storms. Cell phones, not factories. The perils of youth -- Diseases of settlement. Cholera and the white death. A simple solution. Poor world cities. The perils of growing naturally. Climate and the environment. The Tunis effect. Returning to Dhaka -- Diseases of place. The growth industry in Agadez, Niger. People, not just potatoes. Migration as the history of disease. The world is getting better in worrisome ways -- The exoneration of William H. Stewart. Confronting the complex of multiple causation. The role of aid in adapting to the decline of infectious diseases. The myth of the good epidemic.