A New Era For the World Health
Organization
Sonia
Shah November 9, 2011
[excerpted]
Non-communicable diseases have
rapidly become a global concern: The World Economic Forum has identified NCDs
as one of the top threats to worldwide development.
Science journalist Sonia Shah says
private money is influencing the decisions of the World Health Organization.
The WHO responds.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the
World Health Organization and other global health leaders often strove to
improve the health of the world’s poor by targeting private sector excesses.
They imposed restrictions, codes, and “ethical criteria” on the marketing of
infant formula, pesticides, and tobacco, unnerving executives and stifling
business plans. Success hinged on the cooperation of local governments, but
where policymakers implemented recommendations they achieved real results.
Breastfeeding rates rose, pesticide poisonings fell, and tobacco consumption
declined.
Since then, the global health
establishment has been turned on its head. Over the last two decades, the
private sector has emerged as the world’s top source of financing and
leadership in the fight against deadly disease. The resources of some of the
private industry players involved in global health today dwarf those of the
WHO. Groups such as the Global Business Coalition aim to turn “business assets
into disease-fighting assets”; the GBC boasts a membership of nearly 200
companies, including multinationals such as Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil, and Pfizer....
...Most telling is the fact that voluntary contributions
from private interests and others now bankroll four out of every five
dollars of the WHO’s budget.
The problem is that the companies most active in
global health projects today hail from a narrow range of industries, many of
which are under fire for their negative impact on public health. These private
firms are playing a double game: disrupting local communities with one hand and
writing big checks to ostensibly help them with the other..."
Majia here: End quote. This is a very interesting article. Continue reading at the link above
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