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MONTERREY,
Mexico -- Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland has had over
two decades of experience in bringing essential
health interventions to the poorest and most
vulnerable people across the world. The Director
General of
the World Health Organization and former Prime
Minister of Norway is also one of the most sought
after and vocal speakers at the Financing for
Development Conference in Monterrey, Mexico.
Whether
she is speaking at roundtables, or plenaries with
ministers of both developed and developing nations,
or with international agencies and nongovernmental
organizations, her message is clear: The focus of
financing needs to be first and foremost on health
because development is not possible with unhealthy
people. Her moral argument has weight and imposes
a moral burden on the rich donor countries-and she
is fully leveraging it to make her case here in Monterrey.
Nearly eight million deaths per year can be prevented,
according to a study commissioned by Dr. Brundtland
of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH).
What is needed, she said, is the political will of
rich countries to support a global health fund, such
as the one headed by Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs,
with whom she is closely working. The Commission's
report is the first detailed costing of the resources
needed.
The global health fund is focused on addressing
three diseases-HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria-that
make up a dominant part of the global burden
of disease and cause more than 5.5 million
deaths every year. Maternal and child conditions,
reproductive ill health, injuries and the health
consequences of tobacco are also global health
priorities.
"Any serious attempts to reduce the disease
burden faced by the world's poorest people
must concentrate on these conditions," Dr.
Brundtland said, arguing that it made economic
as well as moral sense. The economic benefits
are estimated to be about US $360 billion annually
by 2015.
A medical doctor and Master of Public Health,
Dr. Brundtland spent 10 years as a physician
and scientist in the Norwegian public health
system. For more than 20 years she was in public
office, 10 of them as Prime Minister. In the
1980's she gained international recognition,
championing the principle of sustainable development
as the chair of the World Commission of Environment
and Development (the Brundtland Commission).
Under her guidance,
WHO is now bringing together ministries of
health and finance in an entirely
new way to plan health investments for the
future. Dr. Brundtland believes that WHO can
make a case for money because it has decades
of experience on how to spend it well. Stressing
that the debate is not about trade or aid,
she said: "Trade is essential but in order
to trade, people have to be able to produce.
They have to stay alive and become productive
members of the global economy."
"Disease is a drain on economy," said
Dr. Brundtland. "Any attempt to stimulate
global economic and social development, and
thus to promote human security, must be successful
in addressing the burdens caused by these diseases."
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