[An agenda to debate: the World Bank report Investing in Health].

The 1993 World Bank Development Report analyzes the world health situation from an economic perspective. In spite of the fact that many of the discussed topics are controversial, the report accomplishes an interesting review of different health and socioeconomic indicators. The experts of WHO and the World Bank elaborated a new measurement of the global burden of disease, the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). It's an indicator that summarizes the health status of a population, combining mortality, morbidity and disability data. We think that the development of this new indicator is the most novel and positive aspect of the report. This indicator stimulates comparisons between countries and facilitates decision making processes in the health field. The present work summarizes and analyses the most interesting and controversial aspects of the World Bank Development Report.