WHO report outlines plan for new health spending, points to way out of poverty to health.(Brief Article)

2002 MAR 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scaling Up the Response to Infectious Diseases: A Way out of Poverty, a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNAIDS, the World Bank, UNESCO and UNFPA, was launched at the World Economic Forum in New York on February 2, 2002.

Scaling Up calls for a well-organized and highly focused effort to take proven strategies and massively increase their availability.

"Almost 6 million people are killed every year by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria alone," said Carol Bellamy, UNICEF's executive director. "Malaria and HIV are some of the major causes of stagnating, and in some cases, rising infant and under-5 mortality in Africa. Tackling these, as well as addressing other important childhood disease will be essential to reaching the Millenium Development Goals for children."

Yet by expanding the use of known and cost-effective interventions, TB and malaria deaths can be cut in half and new HIV infections in young people can be reduced by 25% in a decade, Scaling Up reports. It details where investment can be made to realize these gains in a decade.

"These are investment guidelines for better health - not just financial investment but investment in social and political will," said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO's director general. "It is about change on a global scale, brought about by change on a local scale. These are global problems but they can be solved by committed individuals working hard to bring about improvements in their own communities."

Scaling Up builds on the work of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, ...