Public Health Advocates Call For Global Fund For All Health MDGs
In a commentary appearing in the journal Lancet, author Giorgio Cometto, a member of the GAVI Health System Strengthening Task Team, and colleagues propose that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the GAVI Alliance move toward becoming a global fund for all health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The authors write that "global health aid has increased substantially, in particular for HIV/AIDS; while HIV/AIDS funding is still inadequate, the resources committed to other health needs or to strengthen health systems have seen only modest increases, or a relative decline." In addition, the authors examine approaches that have helped the fight against HIV/AIDS that could be applied to other health issues.
The commentary continues, "A global fund for the health MDGs would eventually allow the delivery of prevention and treatment services for specific diseases through revamped general health services, reducing transaction costs and streamlining the global health architecture," they write. "Such radical, yet rational, action is our best chance of meeting or at least making significant progress toward the health-related MDG targets by 2015" (Cometto et al, Lancet, 5/2).