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246 Fighting the Diseases of Povertyprotection should be extended to the point where the cost is equal tothe combined benefit to the person choosing the protection and to allthe others who in turn receive some enhanced protection.While there is plenty of controversy over the extent to whichgovernment should be involved in the provision of health-relatedservices, there is widespread agreement that communicablediseases provide a justification for some form of government participationin preventative measures.Communicable diseases that originate in poorer regions of theworld present more severe problems of global coordination thanthose that might originate in wealthier regions. Within a wealthiersociety, people are likely to achieve a level of care against communicabledisease that exceeds what people in poorer societies wouldbe able to attain.In a setting of global mobility, this means that an externalityexists. People in poorer societies will tend to take fewer precautionsagainst contracting communicable diseases than people in wealthierareas might desire them to take. If residents of wealthier societiesfeel that they are threatened by contagious diseases when notenough precautions are taken by poorer societies, a case can bemade for richer societies to support control of communicablediseases in the poorer societies. 1This justification based on contagion across national boundariesis independent of and distinct from any justification that might arisefrom poverty. It is clear that the most severe health problems in anysociety are found among its poorest members. This negative relationshipbetween health and poverty holds throughout the worldjust as it holds within any single nation.A society’s wealthier members generally possess and displaysome charitable attitude towards fellow people who experience significantdeprivation. Charity is a natural human sentiment, and it isplausible that charitable sentiments would find some expression ona global level.To be sure, however, it does not follow that charitable sentimentsshould necessarily entail governmental participation. There is