 Filling a gap in the area of health systems research HEARD's Health Systems project provides valuable insights through co-ordinated research in three countries: South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. Conference on Urban Health: Urgent Action Needed The first of its kind to be held in Africa the 8th International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH) took place on 18 - 23 October in Nairobi, Kenya. Assessing the Benefits of Community Based Rehabilitation A study conducted in 2008 explored some of the implications of a NGO initiated Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programme.   | Newsletter Issue 2 December 2009 Basic health care a fundamental human right
HEARD director, Prof Alan Whiteside and researcher, Khaled Ahmed attended the Global Responsibilities for Global Health Rights conference convened by the Hélène De Beir Foundation in Brussels on 19 - 21 October 2009. Experts, practitioners and thinkers in the field of global health explored new approaches to ensuring access to basic health services for 2.5 billion people who are currently deprived of such services. Professor Whiteside presented on the present and future risks to HIV and AIDS funding. "Access to basic primary health care as a fundamental human right was a strong theme running through the conference and the responsibility for ensuring this cannot lie only with the governments of low- and middle-income countries," said Ahmed. Ahmed added that resource capacity in many low- and middle-income countries are stretched to the limit and have been at breaking point for some time. "Where countries are also battling with HIV and AIDS pandemics, the cost of treatment will unequivocally be beyond the financial capabilities of afflicted countries," he said. Developed countries, therefore, have both a moral obligation to ensure that the basic health needs of a third of the world's population are met, and also a duty to protect human rights and human security. Countries that have the ability to do so should be responsible for leading a strategy towards global social health protection and be expected to provide the necessary funds. This global health solidarity is not a utopist dream. If the target of 0.7% of GDP for aid was reached (which was reaffirmed by OECD countries at the Monterrey conference in 2002), and 15% of this aid was for health, then $38 billion could be raised annually for global health. Innovative financing can provide additional funds, for example UNITAIDs levy on plane tickets for HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. Donor-recipient relations was also another key theme running through the conference. Currently the power lies with donor countries and it is they who dictate how funds should be spent. They are not accountable to recipient countries when funding is decreased or slow to arrive yet recipients are expected to report on every penny spent. "Equal governance of health policies requires equal power sharing and trust. Donors should be equally accountable to civil society and to members of public of the countries they operate in when making decisions, especially when decreasing funding. This engenders greater North-South solidarity for global health," said Ahmed. The conference was lead by Dr Gorik Ooms. Notable guests included the renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, former Prime Minsiter of Ireland Mary Robinson and Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium. For more information: UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No.14 (see paragraphs 43-45)
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