ADVANCE/IPHN Editorial Posted Today On MEDSCAPE GENERAL MEDICINE Calls for Health - and Not Economic Indicators - to be Key Measure of Global Development in Next Century.

Business/Health & Medical Editors

ADVANCE...for release midnight, Jan. 1, 2000

(ADVANCE) NEW YORK--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 1, 2000

Without Action, Widening Gap Between Rich and Poor Could Add to

Dramatic Decline In Life Expectancy and Other Health Perils in the

Next Century

As the developed world enters the New Millennium with unprecedented prosperity, an editorial posted today on Medscape General Medicine, (MedGenMed,http://www.medscape.com/journal/MedGenMed), the pioneering online general medical journal, makes a plea for the world's health professionals to ensure that health and not economic indicators - measure the success of global development in the next century. Without such action, the editorial says, the widening gap between rich and poor will add to a dramatic decline in life expectancy, an increase in the rapid depletion of renewable resources and other health-related perils, especially for billions of the world's citizens who live in or near poverty.

"Poverty is a social construction with many dimensions, including the lack of basic education, inadequate housing, social exclusion, lack of employment, environmental degradation and low income," the editorial says. "Each of these diminishes opportunity, limits choices and undermines hope, and each poses a threat to health. Economic indicators focus primarily on income poverty, whereas health indicators provide a measure of the multidimensional nature of poverty. For this reason, health should be the pre-eminent measure of the success or otherwise of development policies in the next century. It is health, rather than economic, indicators which will demonstrate the importance of implementing polices across a range of sectors to slow the rate of depletion of renewable resources and, through the securing of human rights, to capitalise on the potential of those who are currently unable to improve their quality of life." The editorial, "Open Invitation from the International Poverty and Health Network to All Health Professionals," cites significant perils of ongoing human poverty and suffering and calls upon IPHN supporters to proactively follow a seven-point program to make health the top priority on the world's social and economic agenda for the next century. The IPHN, created in December 1997 following a series of conferences organized by the World Health Organization, is a worldwide network of people and organizations from the fields of health, business, nongovernmental organizations and government, who seek to influence policy to protect and improve the health of the world's poor, with particular emphasis on the poorest in all countries.

The piece talks about economic disparities both within and between countries and notes that in about 100 nations, incomes are lower in real terms than they were a decade or more ago. "Despite the overall dramatic increases in life expectancy which have occurred over the last century," the editorial says, "health professionals should be concerned about growing inequalities in health and wealth." The article goes on to discuss how sudden social and economic change has caused a "precipitous decline" in life expectancy in Eastern Europe, how the East Asian recession has reduced per capita income in five countries "with likely effects of poverty and ill health," and how many African countries have total external debts that are more than 100% of their Gross National Product. Even in the wealthy nations, the editorial says, the "growing socioeconomic inequalities in health over the last 20 years or so" are having an impact. In the United States, the article notes, "more than 1 in 4 children under the age of 12 have difficulties in obtaining the food they need."

"With the posting of this important editorial in Medscape General Medicine, we are once again using the Internet to spread vital information about health and the practice of medicine, and to demonstrate the immediacy of addressing the world's health issues," said George D. Lundberg, MD, Editor in Chief of MedGenMed's parent company, Medscape, Inc., and one of the editorial's 13 authors. "We hope that with widespread dissemination of these critical issues, both on the Internet and in other communications vehicles, the IPHN and its followers can make an impact so significant that world leaders will begin to define prosperity in terms of both health and wealth in the next century."

Through publication of the editorial on Medscape General Medicine, in the British Medical Journal and many other places during 2000, the IPHN hopes to "reduce the burden of ill health due to poverty in the following ways:

- engaging in strategic discussions with international institutions

such as the IMF, the World Bank, WHO, and national governments to

ensure that health is placed at the centre of development and

that health impact assessments of all policies are undertaken;

- promoting intersectoral action for health at the local, regional,

and national levels by working with sectors such as education,

business, agriculture, and transport to develop and implement

effective policies;

- building the evidence base on effective interventions to reduce

inequalities in health and observe how improved health can reduce

poverty;

- facilitating exchange of knowledge between health professionals

in North and South about effective ways of working;

- ensuring that education programmes for health professionals

include appropriate information on the impact of socioeconomic

inequalities on health and what health professionals can do to

reduce such inequalities;

- encouraging health professionals to work with local communities

to improve the health of the poorest; and

- monitoring trends in health inequalities and using the data to

influence policy."

ABOUT MEDSCAPE

Medscape, Inc. (NASDAQ NM: MSCP), the leading provider of authoritative health and medical information on the Internet since 1995, currently operates two primary healthcare Web sites. Medscape.com, www.medscape.com, provides comprehensive, authoritative and timely medical information and interactive programs to physicians, allied healthcare professionals and consumers, and includes the following specialty pages: Medscape Nursing, http://nursing.medscape.com; Medscape Pharmacology, http://pharmacotherapy.medscape.com, for pharmacists; Medscape Med Student, http://www.medscape.com/medstudent; and Today on Medscape, http://www.medscape.com/today, featuring the latest health and medical news. The Company also operates CBSHealthWatch by Medscape, cbs.healthwatch.com, a recently launched consumer site designed to help families and individuals make better informed healthcare decisions and to simplify management of their healthcare needs.

The professional site, Medscape.com, offers a wide range of high-quality medical information, including original authoritative articles written by renowned medical experts. Medscape also offers what is believed to be the Web's largest collection of free, peer-reviewed, full-text medical journal articles and one of the Web's most extensive libraries of continuing medical education accredited programs. Medscape supplements its medical content with a variety of non-medical information, community features and interactive programs that make Medscape.com a full-service healthcare destination Web site. As of September 30, 1999, Medscape.com had more than 1.4 million registered members worldwide, including over 250,000 registered as physicians and 700,000 registered as allied health professionals.

Medscape's consumer Web site, CBSHealthWatch by Medscape, developed jointly with CBS Corporation and launched in September 1999, provides personalized, authoritative medical content written for the consumer, access to professional content on Medscape.com and interactive personal health management tools, such as health diaries. Beyond general health and wellness information, the site offers information organized around specific health conditions, such as diabetes or asthma. To simplify the consumer experience, Medscape plans to include convenient links to health sites operated by the consumer's physician, employer and health insurer. CBS and the CBS eye device are registered trademarks of CBS Broadcasting Inc.

Among Medscape's other significant strategic alliances is a partnership with America Online (NYSE: AOL) to leverage Medscape's vast array of high-quality consumer-based health information -- including CBSHealthWatch -- to five AOL portals reaching the largest consumer audience in cyberspace. Medscape is also partnering with National Data Corporation (NYSE: NDC) on the joint development and marketing of a range of strategic Internet-based health information and practice-related offerings for consumers, providers, payers and suppliers.

(End of advance for release midnight, Jan. 1, 2000)