‘Partnership key to confronting health challenges’

Partnership is the key to confronting the scale of health challenges faced by Commonwealth countries, Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said in Geneva today (Sunday, 17 May 2009).

The Secretary-General was addressing ministers, government representatives, civil society and business partners at the Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting (CHMM) held annually prior to the World Health Assembly.

Highlighting the disproportionate health-related suffering of Commonwealth people, he said: “The Commonwealth is home to one-third of the world’s population – yet two-thirds of the world’s AIDS sufferers, its maternal deaths, its children under five years old suffering from malnutrition – and nearly half of its infant deaths.”

The current global economic crisis could have crucial implications for progress in international health and particularly for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), just five years from now, he warned.

Turning to the recent outbreak and global spread of H1N1 influenza, Mr Sharma thanked the World Health Organization (WHO) for its leadership on this. He told delegates that the Director-General of WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, would be holding a dialogue with ministers during the meeting.

Mr Sharma said the potential threat of global pandemics was in large part attributable to the increasing connectivity of the world. But he added the solution lay in the same interconnectedness, through international dialogue and coherent and co-ordinated responses.

Climate change and its impact on human health also demanded concerted effort at national and international level: “Many of our members are particularly vulnerable to climate change and they need to be part of an international network that can help and support them.”

The Secretary-General praised ministers for showing foresight in selecting the subject as the theme for this year’s CHMM.

Responding to the health impacts of climate change was complementary to other primary health goals such as the attainment of the MDGs, he said.

Mr Sharma paid tribute to The Lancet in co-operation with University College London for their work on health and climate change. The new edition of The Lancet was published to coincide with CHMM 2009. “It is an exceptional contribution to this debate,” he stated.

The Secretary-General reminded ministers that this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago will fall just before the Copenhagen Summit, where attempts will be made to secure a post-Kyoto global environmental agreement.

“Today, we have an opportunity to feed into that process, which we should seize, by putting health concerns firmly on the climate change agenda,” he concluded.

Key Links:

• Speech Text
• Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting 2009