Interesting point at the end about the inverse correlation between means-value and ends-value. But I'm not sure I buy it. Health and human rights seem to have more means-value than Rosling gives them credit for.
Even an exploitative factory owner wants workers to be somewhat healthy so that he can hire lots of them, and so that there will be more competition between prospective workers (which keeps wages down). And human rights seem like a prerequisite for maximizing a society's creative output. I suppose frightened and brutalized people can do agricultural or factory work, but I doubt they can do great physics.
Health is definitely important, but it's difficult to achieve without the ground works in the other areas such as education and economy. (Rosling is a professor in public health)
As for human rights, it is important for producing creative work. However, the nature of creative work is that the results are indirect and unpredictable, and the benefits are usually spread beyond economic boundaries, which don't address the immediate needs of the poorer developing countries.
Even an exploitative factory owner wants workers to be somewhat healthy so that he can hire lots of them, and so that there will be more competition between prospective workers (which keeps wages down). And human rights seem like a prerequisite for maximizing a society's creative output. I suppose frightened and brutalized people can do agricultural or factory work, but I doubt they can do great physics.