If there were a health Olympics, the U.S. wouldn't even medal

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2018868510_guestmedolympicsbezruschka08xml.html

ALL eyes are on London as it hosts the 2012 Olympic Games. Nations from across the globe have united to cheer the prowess of incredibly healthy individuals who compete to make their countries proud. In past Olympics, the United States has won more medals than any other country. But if the health of each country's entire population -- not just its elite athletes -- were an Olympic event, the U.S. would have been eliminated in the trials.

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It seems that I posted the gist of this story in the last week or two in this forum, and then deleted the thread. This story made the Seattle Times though. He makes the point about how far down the line the US is in both birth and death life expectancy compared to other countries. When he makes the case, he has the credentials to back it up; being a doctor. He's also local to the Seattle area, Stephen Bezruchka from the University of Washington School of Public Health.
Stephen, I totally agree.

http://www.wellsphere.com/aging-senior-health-article/cancer-survival-rates/633475
29 mar 2009--Widespread media coverage has been given to a large study on cancer survival across Europe. The EUROCARE-4 study looked at cancer cure and survival rates between 1995 and 2004. The Guardian reported that although the number of people being cured of cancer is steadily climbing across Europe, cure rates in England and Scotland trail those in many other countries. The Daily Mail reported that “cancer survival rates in Britain [are] among the worst in Europe".

This important study analysed a vast amount of data on cancer survival in Europe. Although the newspapers and the study have given possible explanations for the variations in cancer survival between countries, the study did not examine this in detail. Various factors could have been involved, including differences in cancer prevention and detection strategies, diagnostic rates, cancer stage at diagnosis, how cancers are classified, what proportion of cancers are recorded in the cancer registries, and what treatments were given.

Further study would be needed to determine the contribution of each of these factors and how to improve survival rates.
Additionally, these figures are for cancers diagnosed more than 10 years ago, and survival rates may have improved since then.
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Sadly, they have not.

also, what needs to be taken into consideration, as it is part of the equation:

http://www.tiptoptens.com/2011/02/19/top-10-countries-with-highest-suicide-rates-2011/
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide_rates/en/index.html
http://newswithnumbers.com/2009/09/28/cancer-survival/
http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/health/cause.php
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3221406a.html

and, lastly, the projected trends in global mortality: 2004–2030
http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GBD_report_2004update_part2.pdf