MEDIA RELEASE PR36688
Human Rights Conference to Set New Agenda for Global Health
HANOI, Oct. 26 /Medianet International-AsiaNet/ --
International experts are meeting this week to find new ways to confront escalating health and humanitarian
crises threatening billions of the world's most vulnerable people.
Climate change-related disasters and disease, the global food and financial crises, pandemics and the
HIV/AIDS epidemic are compounding existing health burdens, seriously compromising the world's capacity to
respond.
Meeting in Hanoi at the first International Conference on Realising the Rights to Health and Development for
All, senior international health officials, funding agencies, leading academics and community organizations say
despite steady increases in global health funding since the 1990s, problems are fast outrunning solutions.
More than 250 international and national health, development and human rights experts will contribute to the
debate on barriers to health and development during the four-day conference.
"There is a real risk that vulnerable populations will be left behind. We must find new strategies to protect
and promote the fundamental rights to health and development, and find innovative ways to use human and
financial resources more effectively," says conference Co-Chair, Daniel Tarantola, Professor of Health and
Human Rights at the University of NSW.
Compounding challenges are compromising global health and development in a world coping with
accelerating population growth, rapid urbanization, forced migration, stresses on water supplies and
agricultural production, maternal and child mortality and restricted access to health care.
"Until now these challenges have largely been addressed independently and compete for funding and
expertise. This conference will recommend a new approach which will maximize the effective use of resources
and social capital," says Dr Cao Duc Thai, former Director of the Vietnamese Institute for Human Rights, the
Ho Chi Minh National Political and Administrative Academy and Co-Chair of the Conference Organizing
Committee.
By examining health threats through a human rights lens, the conference aims to spark a new movement to
enhance the capacity of individuals, communities and nations to confront emerging challenges. The
conference is sponsored by The United Nations; The Atlantic Philanthropies; The Australian Government's
Overseas Aid Program (AusAID); The United Nations; USAID/Health Policy Initiative, The Levi Strauss
Foundation and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations.
Media contacts:
Louise Williams (Hanoi)
Phone: +84 (0) 16 463 568 73
Vietnam local: 016 463 568 73
Louise.Williams@unsw.edu.au
Helen Signy (Sydney)
Phone + 61 (0) 425 202 654
helensigny@writemedia.com.au
SOURCE: University of New South Wales' Initiative for Health and Human Rights (IHHR)
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