The G8 and Global Health

by Alanna Shaikh · 2009-07-09 08:36:00 UTC
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The G8 summit began yesterday, and after their first day of meetings they issued a declaration. It's a 40-page discussion of their commitment to responsible leadership in a time of great challenges.  Pages 33-35 cover global health. Here's how it came out:

The laudable but usual:

  • They reaffirmed their commitment to the health needs of the most vulnerable, including women and children.
  • They mention the importance of strengthening health systems. (that's a huge topic right now - check out this post from the CGD)

  • They warmly support building a global consensus on maternal, newborn and child health as a way to accelerate progress on the Millennium Development Goals for both maternal and child health,

The somewhat concrete:

  • They commit to "developing networks of researchers and by working with our African partners to establish a consortium of interdisciplinary centres of health innovation. As an enabling first step in developing the consortium, we will convene a planning meeting in late 2009 with African partners to establish a roadmap."

The depressingly unlikely:

  • They invite partner countries to increase and effectively use their domestic financing for health in line with the principles of the Rome, Paris and Accra Declarations.

The entreatingly jargon-filled:

  • They "promote a comprehensive and integrated approach to the achievement of the health-related MDGs, also maximizing synergies between global health initiatives and health systems."

  • They acknowledge the work of the Leading Group on Innovative Financing for Development and the report of the High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, which present a set of options from which countries and stakeholders can choose on a voluntary basis to mobilize resources to strengthen health systems.

Updates: Blog4GlobaHealth has several good posts on the G8 summit, and they feel that this summit has not met past commitments.

Alanna Shaikh
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