UN and associated health officials welcome G-8 Summit focus on disease

The Group of Eight, through its focus on global health at this year's summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, is helping to ensure that existing and emerging disease threats are tackled at the very highest level, United Nations and other international health officials said today.

In a joint statement released in advance of the G8 summit, the leaders of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) welcomed the focus on infectious diseases and urged the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States “to continue their commitments to improving the health and lives of people in the world's poorest countries.”

WHO acting Director-General Dr. Anders Nordström, who will be at the G8 summit, said the powerful Group's action on health issues can make a tangible difference. “Attention by the world's wealthiest nations will directly benefit people living in all countries.”

The G8 focus on health in past years led directly to strengthening UNAIDS and to the creation of the Global Fund, which has leveraged pledges of $9 billion to prevent, diagnose and treat these diseases.

“The support demonstrated by G8 leaders for the AIDS response has been, and continues to be crucial to getting ahead of the epidemic,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot. “We must build on the commitments made last year to make universal access to HIV treatment, prevention and care a reality.”

The success of all health programmes depends on urgently addressing the health workforce crisis, the joint statement said. “The world is now short of 4 million health workers, with the lack of doctors, nurses and laboratory experts most acute in 57 of the world's poorest countries,” the officials pointed out.

The G8 summit will be held from 15 to 17 July.