UN agencies urge stepped-up global response to infectious diseases

As senior government officials, key policy-makers and influential business leaders from across the globe gather in New York for the World Economic Forum, several United Nations agencies are gearing up to launch a major report urging a stepped-up global response to infectious diseases.

"Today, perhaps for the first time in history, it is possible to launch a truly global response to the major infectious diseases that keep people in poverty," states Scaling Up the Response to Infectious Diseases: A Way out of Poverty, a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Bank, the UN Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

The report, which will be launched at the World Economic Forum in New York on Saturday, demonstrates how the private sector can contribute to improving public health, according to Dr. David Heymann of WHO. "The report talks about experiences with companies such as Exxon, Mobil and Credit Suisse which show how they can work with countries to strengthen public health," he told UN Radio. Listen to interview

The report argues that investments in health produce measurable financial returns. It builds on earlier research which found that well-targeted spending of $66 billion a year by 2015 could save as many as 8 million lives annually and generate more than $360 billion a year by 2020.

Among other specific recommendations, Scaling Up calls for investments in drugs to treat tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS as well as mosquito nets and condoms to prevent infection with malaria and HIV. It also suggests marketing and communications approaches aimed at encouraging healthy behaviour.

"Almost 6 million people are killed every year by HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria alone," noted UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, who stressed the need to tackle these illnesses in order to benefit the world's children. According to the report, known and cost-effective interventions can cut in half TB and malaria deaths while reducing new HIV infections in young people by 25 per cent in a decade.

"These are investment guidelines for better health - not just financial investment but investment in social and political will," explained Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO's Director General. While acknowledging that the problems described in the report were global, she emphasized that "they can be solved by committed individuals working hard to bring about improvements in their own communities."