[Editorial] 2017: The unifying power of health (Lancet)

For many readers of The Lancet, 2016 will be viewed as a dark year. As highlighted elsewhere in this issue (p 2971), ongoing civil conflict has led to record numbers of displaced people (around 65 million, just under 1% of the world`s population). The aftershocks of democratic political revolutions on both sides of the Atlantic still resonate, with no clear path ahead and few grounds for optimism. Yet, by contrast, 2016 has also seen some striking successes in health: polio eradication has come tantalisingly close, with only 34 cases reported this year in three countries; and 30 million people were successfully vaccinated against a raging yellow fever outbreak in DR Congo and Angola, a remarkable effort from the many agencies involved.