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EG4Health Newsletter, Number 1
 Wednesday April 1st  2009
                                                                                                                             

 EG4Health launched, and swimming with the tide

 Last week saw the launch of EG4Health, accompanied by a Lancet editorial and commentary.

 The launch coincided with protests and campaigns across the world and involving hundreds of thousands of people who are unhappy and angry the evidence of global financial mis-management, corruption and rising economic inequalities.

 Among the protests was the Put People First march in London (which will host tomorrow’s G20 meeting), supported by over 150 civil society organisations. They presented a 12 point plan for democratic economic governance, as well as a more detailed policy paper.

 Will the G20 deliver? No …

 It is already clear that the G20 will not deliver on the health and economic needs of the poorest countries and poorest people, as described in the Bretton Woods Project’s reaction to the G20 finance meeting that took place on March 14th.

 But there is no reason to think that the G20 would ever deliver since it is dominated by governments and other actors who have an interest in only fixing the system rather than calling for the fundamental and democratic reforms that are required to eradicate poverty, prevent climate disaster and provide health for all.

 We need to demand a more inclusive, transparent and democratic process to be conducted under the auspices of the UN. Indeed, a UN panel of senior international economists have already called for the G20 to be replaced by a new Global Economic Council.

 Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick are looking to rescue the MDGs in poor countries

 A High-Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems has been established to figure out how more and new sources of funding can be developed for health systems in low-income countries. Two eminent Working Groups which were established to develop a set of recommendations have just submitted their first draft reports: Group 1 Report and Group 2 Report. However, as indicated by this response from David McCoy and others, there are serious shortcomings with both reports.

Help us get 5000 signatures for our open letter to Dr. Margaret Chan

We want the World Health Organisation to protect the efforts of health workers and advocates from all across the world being constantly undermined by unfair, undemocratic and sometimes corrupt economic governance. The globalisation of the past thirty years in particular has failed abysmally – poverty levels have increased, ecological damage places us at the precipice of catastrophe; and most countries are not going to reach even the unambitious Millennium Development Goals.

We need the WHO to play a more assertive and forceful public health role when it comes to global economic governance. Sign here

 What else can we do and how can EG4Health help?

The underlying purpose of EG4Health is clear enough – we want fair and effective global economic governance so that our global health goals can be met in ways that are equitable and ecologically sustainable.

But how do we get there?

EG4Health is working to harness the voice and authority of the international health community through a number of specific objectives. Click here to find out what these are and how you can help. We also have an impressive collection of multi-disciplinary EG4Health advisors