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Thank you, Clare.
Fifteen years ago I chaired the World Commission on
Environment and Development. That Commission's Report, "Our
Common Future", broke new ground by placing people firmly at the
centre of development.
You cannot make real changes in society unless the
economic dimension of an issue is fully understood. I firmly believe
that this is how the environment moved from being a cause for the
convinced and marginal greens to an issue for real attention by major
players throughout society.
The findings from the World Commission on
Environment and Development managed to change the course of
development only because the arguments succeeded in reaching finance
ministers and Heads of State. They then became engaged in the
developmental consequences of environmental policies.
This is a lesson I took with me to my work in
health. By the time I took up my current position at the World Health
Organization, several of the people whom I later asked to participate
in the Commission - in particular Professor Jeffrey Sachs - had
already begun to question the old dogmas on health and development.
During the 1980s, investments in health were
increasingly seen by economists as an add-on that developing countries
could only afford after having reached a middle-income level. I was
convinced this was wrong: you need a two-pillar approach. A healthy
population is a prerequisite for growth as much as a result of it.
This Report is a turning point - for health, and
beyond. It is not just another plea for more resources in one key
sector. The Commission is arguing for a comprehensive, global approach
to sustainable development: with concrete goals and specific
time-frames.
The proposed investments in health involve
well-tried interventions that are known to work. They can be measured
- in terms of the disease burden and health system performance. The
emphasis, throughout, is on results: on investing money where it makes
a difference.
The millennium development goals cannot be reached
without a fundamental change in the way we work together. This means
shared agendas, new partnerships, funding mechanisms and monitoring -
like the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunization and the
just-formed Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The key to action, however, is to move health to
the highest levels of political leadership. Over the past two years,
we have seen an increased political commitment to health around the
globe.
African Heads of State have - for two years in a
row - made commitments to reduce malaria and HIV infections in their
countries. The twenty countries most affected by tuberculosis have
agreed on ambitious targets for reduction in TB infection rates by
2005. This year the world's leaders signed up to a new strategy for
tackling HIV/AIDS.
The G8 nations have responded with commitments to
scale up their efforts and help achieve international targets for
malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS. They have provided strong support for the
Global Health Fund. The European Union making a bold new effort, and
the British Government has shown real leadership over the last three
to four years. These are all promising signs of change.
The World Health Organization will work with
countries as they respond to their leaders' commitments, taking action
and pursuing the ideas in this Report. Indeed, I believe the Report
will have a profound influence on how we all go about our work.
Let me end by thanking all the Commissioners for
their hard and inspired labours over the past two years. And a
particular thanks to Jeff Sachs, who has put in a near superhuman
effort that both is consistent and convincing. The Report takes
account of the vast amount of evidence generated by all the working
group papers and the range of insights of all the Commissioners. It
has been an inspiring and exciting process!
Thank you.
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