From public rallies in various locations in New York to a meeting of women leaders at the United Nations, Governments and organisations are uniting to launch a new global and unprecedented drive today to slash maternal and child deaths. The "Deliver Now for Women + Children" initiative is a direct response to warnings by the UN that the world is lagging behind in achieving the Millennium Development Goals to cut maternal and child deaths by 2015.
Equity in Health
The authors describe how gender inequality damages the physical and mental health of millions of girls and women across the globe, and also of boys and men despite the many tangible benefits it gives men through resources, power, authority and control. Because of the numbers of people involved and the magnitude of the problems, taking action to improve gender equity in health and to address women’s rights to health is one of the most direct and potent ways to reduce health inequities and ensure effective use of health resources. The authors emphasise that deepening and consistently implementing human rights instruments can be a powerful mechanism to motivate and mobilize governments, people and especially women themselves.
More than at any previous time in history, global public health security depends on international cooperation and the willingness of all countries to act effectively in tackling new and emerging threats. That is the clear message of this year's World health report entitled A safer future: global public health security in the 21st century, which concludes with six key recommendations to secure the highest level of global public health security.
This short paper outlines the perspectives and motivations for the work of the Regional Network for Equity in Health in Eastern and Southern Africa (EQUINET). It presents key areas of work on health equity being implemented to strengthen the state and public sector in health; organised around the active participation and involvement of communities. This includes work on strengthening people's power for health, on increased fair financing, on retaining health workers and challenging trade policies that encroach on health. Such work faces challenges that can be met through increased regional networking to exchange experience, information and expertise, particularly given the demand for learning by doing.
The lack of attention to equity in health, health care and determinants of health is a burden to the attainment of good health in many countries. With this underlying problem as a basis, a series of meetings took place between 1999 and 2000, culminating in the creation of the Global Equity Gauge Alliance (GEGA). GEGA is an international network of groups in developing countries, mainly Asia, AFrica, and Latin America, which develop projects designed to confront and mitigate inequities in health, known as Equity Gauges. Equity Gauges aim to contribute towards the sustained decline in inequities in both the broad sociopolitical determinants of health, as well as inequities in health system. Their approach is based on three broad spheres of action, known as "pillars". Through a series of examples from local or national level gauges, this paper showcases their work promoting the interaction between research and evidence-based policy formulation and implementation, and the interaction between the community and policy makers.
Kofi Annan focused on the progress of Africa in the 5th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg, saying it needed to be balanced on three pillars: security, development and human rights. The past secretary-general of the United Nations, said significant progress had been made in Africa in relation to all three of these pillars, yet much still needed to be done. He noted, that more than 300-million people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1 a day, and are “starved not only for food, but for opportunity and hope”. Mr Annan was critical of the imbalances of globalisation, and said the world’s rich needed to help the poor, because “If some of us are poor, we are all poorer.” He further pointed out: “We live in an era of inter dependence … [which] in some ways is more obvious in Africa than anywhere else,” he said.
At the midway point between their adoption in 2000 and the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to achieve any of the Goals. Although there have been major gains in several areas and the Goals remain achievable in most African nations, even the best governed countries on the continent have not been able to make sufficient progress in reducing extreme poverty in its many forms. This UN report outlines the current indicators and gives some success stories. It observes that existing commitments made and reaffirmed by world leaders at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles and the 2005 World Summit are sufficient to meet the Goals. At the midway point of 2007, these commitments must be urgently translated into practical plans with systematic follow-through.
WHO presents country data on the burden of disease preventable through healthier environments. These estimates provide the stepping stone for informed policy making in disease prevention. The country profiles provide an overview of summary information on selected parameters that describe the environmental health situation of a country, as well as a preliminary estimate of health impacts caused by environmental risks.
The report includes a Mothers’ Index, which identifies the best and worst countries to be a mother and child-based on a comprehensive look at child and maternal well-being in 140 countries. To succeed in saving the lives of children under 5, Save the Children recommends that countries: ensure the well-being of mothers; invest in basic, low-cost solutions to save children’s lives; make health care available to the poorest and most vulnerable mothers and children; increase funding and improve strategies to provide basic, effective, lifesaving services to those who most need it.
The theme for this conference was: “Strengthening of Health Systems for Equity and Development in Africa”, with emphasis on the Africa Health Strategy 2007-2015. Africa has made significant strides in certain areas of social and economic development but has the potential to achieve even more if it can overcome the large burden of disease which continues to be a barrier to faster development. This has prompted the African Union Ministers of Health to harmonise all existing health strategies by drawing this Africa Health Strategy which Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other regional entities and Member States can use to enrich their strategies, depending on their peculiar challenges. The Strategy neither competes with nor negates other health strategies but seeks to complement other specific and detailed strategies by adding value from the unique perspective of the African Union. It provides a strategic direction to Africa’s efforts in creating better health for all.