Working together for better health
5 June 2007
Development is about eliminating poverty. And the good health of the people
of the world is intimately bound up with the world's prosperity. The healthier
people are, the less likely they are to be poor; the more entrenched poverty is,
the more likely people are to become ill and die.
Hilary Benn today calls for the global community to deliver better health for poorer people around the world.
Hilary Benn will make a major speech launching the new strategy today at
Central Hall Westminster.
Dr Margaret Chan (Director General, World Health
Organisation), Dr Joy Phumaphi
(24
kb) (Vice President for Human Development, World Bank)
and Professor Michel Kazatchkine(73
kb) (Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria) will respond to the Secretary of State's speech. He will
say:
"We live in a rapidly changing world and developing countries face the
greatest challenges. But they can't meet them without good health. Look at the
history of our own country, we went through similar changes."
Announcing a £102 million boost to tackle HIV and AIDS, Hilary Benn will outline the UK's pledge to improve health in developing countries by committing at least 50% of DFID direct spend on basic services including health care. He will also call on the international community to meet health challenges.
"We are already doing a lot, but we must do better; there are over 40 bilateral donors, 26 UN agencies, 20 global and regional funds, and 90 global health initiatives. And the truth is that we are not working together properly. Without closer coordination we run the risk of devaluing what we are doing."
Read our press release: Hilary Benn says "We must do better" in effort to tackle global health crisis
Today sees the launch of a new DFID publication:
Working together for better
health(1.2
mb) sets out DFID's strategy to support developing countries in
improving the health of their people and reaching the Millennium Development
Goals.
"Our strategy on health outlines the priorities that will guide how the UK works with developing countries to improve the health of their citizens. If we can invest in what works and bring together the efforts of governments, civil society and others, we can provide better – and fairer – access to the basic services that improve health. And if we do this then the health of the poorest people will be transformed." Hilary Benn.
The strategy identifies four priorities:
- More and better: Delivering more resources for health
- Working together: Expanding access to basic services
- Making it happen: Improving the effectiveness of international funding for health
- Gathering the facts: Demonstrating results and building evidence of what works
Working together for better health: Evidence for action(121
kb), published alongside
the health strategy, sets out the types of evidence that have informed DFID's
commitments to action in 'Working together for better health'.
