The World : 1 Billion Ill or Hungry, WHO Reports

About 1 billion people--one out of every five persons on Earth--are suffering from disease, poor health or malnourishment, the World Health Organization reported. However, there has been enough health-care improvement, including the eradication of smallpox, in the last 40 years to raise human life expectancy from 41 years to 59.7 in the developing countries, the U.N. agency said. Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima, director general, said the greatest burden of disease is in poor countries of Africa, Asia and South America, where health expenditures average about $5 per person, compared to about $400 per person in the United States, Canada, Japan and Western Europe.