The G8 and Global Health

Published July 09, 2009 @ 08:36AM PT

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.

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Comments (2)

Thanks so much for this blog post. I hope that it will help keep people focused on what is currently happening at the G8 Summit in Italy.

We must always remember that while we discuss & debate, real life people suffer and die.

For their sake, we need to walk the walk more than we talk the talk.

Living Positively, debbie :)

www.mpwn-uganda.org

Posted by Debbie Kreuser on 07/09/2009 @ 09:39AM PT
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I just read this call to action for Global Health Systems Impact Analysis, published in Lancet: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61212-5/fulltext?_eventId=login#

Do you know if this is part of the discussion of health systems at the G8? I'm not sure what would be involved in such analysis, but it seems to me like in many cases it would be worth the trouble. Just wondering what you thought.

Posted by JS Wilson on 07/09/2009 @ 07:34PM PT
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Author

Alanna Shaikh has spent the last ten years immersed in global health; she has worked for NGOs, companies, universities, and the US government on projects that ranged from preventing antibacterial resistance to improving maternal and child health.