Huge investment needed to meet WHO health goals
The world must immediately and massively increase investment in health
programmes to achieve the World Health Organization’s Millennium
Development Goals (see Panel), according to a report presented to UN
secretary general Kofi Annan in New Yorkthis week.
Millennium development goals
The Millennium Development Goals were adopted by world leaders
at the United Nations Millennium Assembly in September 2000 with
the
aim of halving extreme poverty and radically improving the
lives of at least one billion people in poor developing countries
by
2015. They set specific health targets to:
· Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
· Achieve universal primary education
· Promote gender equality and empower women
· Reduce child mortality
· Improve maternal health
· Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
· Ensure environmental sustainability
· Develop a global partnership for development |
However, the targets
can still be met, Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the WHO, argues. “We
have the means to achieve those goals,” he
said. “We have the technology. What we need are the resources and
the political will. We cannot wait any longer to do what we have promised
to achieve in the coming decade.”
The report calls for a scaling-up of existing health programmes, for
significant new investment in public health, and for health strategies
to be at the heart of national poverty reduction and development strategies.
It also recommends that high-income countries increase official development
aid to 0.7 per cent of their gross national product by 2015 and that
gender, equity and environmental factors should underpin all health issues,
strategies and policies.
Commenting on the report, Ton Hoek, International Pharmaceutical Federation
(FIP) general secretary, drew attention to the importance of the goals
and the role that pharmacists will need to play if the targets are to
be met: “FIP reiterates the urgency to tackle the health issues
highlighted in the Millennium Project report. We emphasise not only the
importance of increasing the access to medicines but also their safe
and rational use. In addition, we will continue to highlight the role
played by the pharmacist in HIV/AIDS therapy and care. As committed health
professionals, pharmacists are key players in the process and committed
to work in the benefit of the patient.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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