Honorary Chair and Patron of the Africa Public Health Alliance and 15% Plus Campaign, Desmond Tutu, has called on African Heads of State and Ministers of Health and Finance to work urgently towards meeting their Abuja commitments before the 2011 High Level Progressive Review of Africa's commitment to health financing. He pointed out that, in the past nine years, only six out of 53 African Union member states have met their 2001 Abuja commitment to pledge 15% of their budgets to health. He attributed shortfalls on meeting health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)to a combination of low per-capita investment in health and low investment in social determinants of health, such as clean water, improved sanitation, poor nutrition and gender equity in health, as well as a lack of pharmaceutical capacity and access to medicines. He urged the education and labour sectors to train and retain the necessary numbers of health workers, and double per capita investment in health.
Equity in Health
This statement was made after a meeting of Commonwealth Health Ministers (CHMM), which was held on 16 May 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. The theme of the meeting was 'The Commonwealth and the Health MDGs by 2015'. The Meeting noted that only 5% of Commonwealth developing countries have met Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 targets or are on track to do so. At least 19 countries have high maternal mortality rates, and only 36% of developing Commonwealth countries have achieved or are on track to achieve the targets for births attended by skilled staff. The Meeting also noted the major challenges facing the world, and Commonwealth countries in particular, if the MDGs are to be met. Ministers were optimistic that many of the 2015 MDG targets could be met by Commonwealth countries. They, however, noted that this would require greater technical co-operation; attention to enabling environments, including legal frameworks, and where appropriate free healthcare to mothers and children; and an integration of preventative and curative services in the context of strengthening health systems through primary healthcare. Ministers called on the global community, especially the G8 and G20, to support maternal and newborn health programmes, and to meet MDGs 4 and 5. While acknowledging the tremendous achievements in access to anti-retroviral treatment, the Ministers noted that two thirds of those needing treatment did not receive it. Ministers pledged support for the greater alignment of non-communicable disease issues with the MDGs.
The International Conference on Dynamics of Rural Transformation in Emerging Economies was held from 14 to 16 April 2010 in New Delhi, India. Up to 300 participants with over 70% from emerging economy countries and 30% from other developing countries, including those in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, joined the discussions. Debates during the conference suggested that food security policies could be further explored as an important field for South-South knowledge sharing. The Conference offered an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss concepts and policies concerning rural development . The discussions raised areas that participants agreed would be explored in further dialogue, such as the increase in urban-rural disparities, the expansion of rural non-farm income-generation options, migration and environmental concerns, as well as persisting issues of food insecurity, land tenure and rural poverty.
This report provides an overview of progress in implementing the action plan for the global strategy for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases since its endorsement by the Sixty-first World Health Assembly in May 2008. The action plan aims to: map the emerging epidemics of non-communicable diseases and analyse their social, economic, behavioural and political determinants; reduce the level of exposure of individuals and populations to the common modifiable risk factors; and strengthen health care for people with non-communicable diseases by developing evidence-based norms, standards and guidelines for cost-effective interventions and by orienting health systems to respond to the need for effective management of diseases of a chronic nature. The plan covers six objectives, each with two sets of proposed actions, for member states and international partners, and one set of actions for the WHO Secretariat. Its implementation is to be reviewed at the end of the first biennium.
The 63rd World Health Assembly, which brought together Health Ministers and senior health officials from the World Health Organization's (WHO) Member States, concluded on 21 May 2010. The delegates adopted resolutions on a variety of global health issues including: a global strategy and plan of action for public health, innovation and intellectual property; convening an intergovernmental working group to deal with counterfeit medical products; developing a comprehensive approach to the prevention and control of viral hepatitis; monitoring the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals; enforcing the global code of practice for the international recruitment of health personnel; ensuring food safety; implementing the global strategy for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases; implementing strategies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol; global eradication of measles by 2015; increasing availability, safety and quality of blood products; new guidelines on human organ and tissue transplantation; intensifying efforts to improve treatment and prevention of pneumonia; increased political commitment and a global strategy for better infant and young child nutrition; redressing the limited focus to date on preventing and managing birth defects; sharing of influenza viruses and access to vaccines and other benefits with regard to pandemic influenza preparedness; and implementing the International Health Regulations of 2005.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a campaign to highlight urban planning as a crucial link to building a healthy 21st century. In particular, WHO calls on municipal authorities, concerned residents, advocates for healthy living and others to take a close look at health inequities in cities and take action. Rapid urbanisation has resulted in significant changes in our living standards, lifestyles, social behaviour and health. This article notes that many cities face a triple threat: infectious diseases, which thrive when people are crowded together; chronic, non-communicable diseases including diabetes, cancers and heart disease, which are on the rise with unhealthy lifestyles; and urban health is often further burdened by road traffic accidents, injuries, violence and crime. WHO outlines five actions that could significantly increase the chance people will be able to enjoy better urban living conditions: promote urban planning for healthy behaviours and safety; improve urban living conditions; ensure participatory governance; build inclusive cities that are accessible and age-friendly; and make cities resilient to disasters and emergencies.
This study used the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDG) database from 2000 to 2006 to investigate the association between globalisation and women’s health in sub-Saharan Africa based on various determinants of heath. Results suggest that developing countries are becoming more integrated with world markets through some lowering of trade barriers. At the same time, women’s occupational roles are changing, which could affect their health status. However, it is difficult to measure the impact of globalisation on women’s health from the MDG database. First, data on trade liberalisation is aggregated at the regional level and does not hold any information on individual countries. Second, too few indicators in the MDG database are disaggregated by sex, making it difficult to separate the effects on women from those on men. The paper concludes that the MDG database is not adequate to assess the effects of globalisation on women’s health in Sub-Saharan Africa. It recommends that researchers aim to address this research question to find other data sources or turn to case studies. Further research on globalisation and health, using reliable sources, is urgently needed.
The child survival and development strategy in Kenya is guided by the National Health Sector Strategic Plan II: 2005–2010 (NHSSP II), the targets anticipated in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Vision 2030 goals. The health sector has laid down policy and plans to facilitate the implementation of accelerated child survival and development within this strategy. The health sector currently faces several challenges and needs to focus on improving access to health services, as utilisation remains low, with more than 47% of the population travelling more than five kilometres to reach a health facility. Yet several notable achievements have been made in efforts to reduce the causes of childhood morbidity and mortality, especially with regards to malaria, vaccine preventable diseases, diarrhoea and in improving water and sanitation. There still needs to be a significant scaling up of activities related to specific targets both in terms of programme delivery and financing. Despite recent improvements, Kenya still needs to reduce infant mortality from 77 to 26 deaths per 1,000 live births and under five mortality from 115 to 33 deaths per 1,000 live births to achieve MDGs on child survival and development by 2015.
The objective of this study was to determine the leading causes of fatal injury for urban South African children aged 0–14 years, the distribution of those causes and the current potential for safety improvements. Injury surveillance data was obtained from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System 2001–2003 for six major South African cities varying in size, development and sociodemographic composition. The study identified the leading causes of fatal injury in childhood as road traffic injuries – among vehicle passengers and especially among pedestrians – drowning, burns and, in some cities, firearm injuries. Disparities between cities and between population groups were largest for deaths from pedestrian injuries, while differences between boys and girls were greatest for drowning deaths. The study concluded that, in the face of the high variability observed between cities and population groups in the rates of the most common types of fatal injuries, a safety agenda should combine safety-for-all countermeasures and targeted countermeasures that help reduce the burden for those at greatest risk.
For the first time in decades, researchers are reporting a significant drop worldwide in the number of women dying each year from pregnancy and childbirth, to about 342,900 in 2008 from 526,300 in 1980. The findings, published in the medical journal The Lancet, challenge the prevailing view of maternal mortality as an intractable problem that has defied every effort to solve it. 'The overall message, for the first time in a generation, is one of persistent and welcome progress,' the journal’s editor, Dr Richard Horton, wrote. The study cited a number of reasons for the improvement: lower pregnancy rates in some countries; higher income, which improves nutrition and access to health care; more education for women; and the increasing availability of 'skilled attendants' – people with some medical training – to help women give birth. Improvements in large countries like India and China helped to drive down the overall death rates.