The following text is also available in French at http://www.who.int/inf/en/pr-2002-01.html

Following is the WHO press release:

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

WHO Information Office

14 January 2002

WHO TO PUSH FOR $66 BILLION INVESTMENT IN HEALTH

14 January, Geneva -- An effort to more than double current investments in health in developing countries will be a key focus of the World Health Organization (WHO) activities in the years to come, the Organization's head said today.

"As health takes on a more central role (in development), the expectations for the developing countries to prioritize health will be growing," Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland said at the opening of the World health Organization's 109th Executive Board meeting, today. "But no matter how much the least developed countries invest, there will be a substantial gap which needs to be filled through development assistance. By 2015, (...) US$66 billion will be needed, of which just over half will have to be covered by international development assistance."

The figures are based on estimates from the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health which last month presented a report saying a drastic scaling up of investments in health for the poorest countries would lead to a six-fold return in the form of increased economic growth.

"Disease is a drain on development" Dr. Brundtla
nd, said. "Conversely, investments in health are a concrete input into economic development."

Dr Brundtland pledged that WHO would assist countries as they increase their investment in health and work to improve efficiency and results.

"The WHO Secretariat will work with countries as they pursue the ideas in this Report. We will also incorporate the Report's analyses and conclusions into relevant international, regional and national events," Dr Brundtland told the 32 person Board.

WHO's Executive Board meets twice a year. Together with the World Health Assembly, it forms the Organization's governing body.

In her speech, Dr Brundtland stressed the importance of this year's World Summit on Sustainable Development, calling it a "major milestone in the work towards a world where we all can live in safety and with dignity, without undermining future generations' ability to do the same".

During the months leading up to the August Sustainable Development Summit, WHO will stress the central role of health in the development process and the linkages between health and poverty reduction. Dr Brundtland added, "We will stress the health risks and determinants beyond communicable diseases, and the impacts of economic globalization on health."

The Director-General noted progress on a number of fronts, including negotiations to create an International Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the efforts to eradicate poliomyelitis, and the drafting of a global strategy for infant feeding.

She also said that she would advice the Board to accept the recommendations of an expert committee to retain stocks of the smallpox virus for continued research into vaccines and treatment.

She said that a detailed global assessment of health systems performance will be published as part of the World Health Report in 2003.

Mrs Myriam Abel, Director of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Vanuatu, is chairing the current session, which is scheduled to last until January 21.