[The role of hospitals in the new century]

The century could be described as an era of transformation for hospitals, from the refuge where the poor went to die to a high tech institution. Indeed, hospitals benefited not only from advances in diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive medicine, but also from the widest range of sciences and technologies. Most diseases can be eradicated and hospitals have largely contributed to their disappearance. Today, the picture could therefore be idyllic. But this would not take into account the wide inequalities between countries, and even within a country. The failure of the WHO message for 2000, "Health for all," is also the failure of the hospitals. I would simplify this presentation by making a distinction between three categories: OECD countries, less advanced countries and emerging countries.