In his valedictory lecture at UCT's medical school on 13 February, Professor Solomon Benatar of the Department of Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences stated that the health of whole populations - in South Africa and globally - is the major crisis and challenge for humanity in the 21st century.

In his lecture, titled South Africa as a Laboratory for Understanding Challenges to Global Health, Benatar cited exponential population growth and consumption of the Earth's resources, among others factors, as affecting population health in coming decades.

"Understanding the need to shift away from the 20th century notion of continuous economic growth and consumption towards solidarity within a fairer and more sustainable conception of development is the first step towards reversing this now almost inevitable global process," he said.