International experts made a plea for global action in the face of the declining state of health worldwide during the sixth Canadian Conference on International Health this fall.
The expert evidence came fast and furious. Maternal deaths haven't decreased in the past 20 years, and Africa has witnessed 50% of the world's AIDs cases. Worldwide, 1 billion people - 70% of them are women - live in poverty on less than a dollar a day; 2.9 billion people live on less than $2 a day.
"We need to reduce the inequities," said Dr. David Brandling-Bennett, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization. Low- and middle-class people account for 84% of the world's population and 90% of the disease burden, but only 11% of health care expenditures.
In a 1995 assessment of the burden of disease due to selected risk factors, malnutrition topped the list, followed by unsafe water and poor sanitation, unsafe sex, alcohol, indoor air pollution and tobacco.
"Each area, each country is different and we can't bring the same health to all," Maria Minna, Canada's Minister of International Cooperation, said during the conference's opening session.
"We need greater cooperation, greater information exchange, greater political will," said Dr. Ilona Kickbusch, head of the Division of International Health at Yale University. She wants a roundtable created to bring people together to develop global health standards, with new funding methods. "Canadians could lead in this development. They have a history of innovation in international health."
"It's not just the right thing to do," concluded Canada's Minna, "it's also in our best interest to promote health worldwide."