Have you had a friend or relative who died prematurely or endured years of suffering from a
physical or psychiatric disease, such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s,
or schizophrenia? Of course you have: the cost of disease is felt by every living human. The Global
Burden of Disease Project has tried to quantify it by estimating the number of years lost to premature
death or compromised by disability. In 2010 it was 2.5 billion, which means that about a third of
potential human life and flourishing goes to waste. The toll from crime, wars, and genocides does not
come anywhere close.