Erindi DÁG á 51 ársfundi WHO í Madrid - 2001
RC/Madrid/September 11, 2001
Davíð Gunarsson
Ministry of Health and Social Security
Iceland
Poverty and Health-Evidence Action
In WHO's European Region
Mr./Madam President,
On the behalf of the Nordic Countries - Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland - I would like to welcome the report from the Regional Director on Poverty and Health. It demonstrates the vision of WHO as one unified organization and at the same time outlines a perspective for the future of the European region. In our view the report reflects the foundations for WHO's current health policy, and the need to emphasise the fact that poverty is the main determinant of health and health inequalities.
The Nordic Countries like to thank the Regional Director and his staff for the informative introduction contained in the document. The relationship of powerty and health should be addressed by all Member States and not only by the poor ones.
Turning to the conclusions and the attached draft resolution the Nordic countries would like to highlight two major observations. Firstly, the socio-economic situation among the Member States of our Region is vastly different.Thus, the Regional Committee should emphasise that the activities of the WHO European Region ought to be targeted at the countries and populations most in need.
Secondly, it is obvious that eradication of poverty is also heavily dependent on achievements on closely associated issues suh as economy, education, employment, working conditions, social welfare, environment, nutrition and housing. The equally important role of these issues need to be more properly reflected in the draft resolution.
Improving health among socio-economically deprived groups is an enormously important task. Moreover, it is also a cost-effective means to improve the population's general level of health. This is true in the whole range of the region's member states including those with the highest socio-economic status.
The Nordic Countries would also like to emphasise that poverty and ill health are among the main driving forces behind environmental degradation and that a healthy environment is essential for good health and the fight against poverty.
For the Nordic countries the issue of equity and human rights is of paramount importance to address poverty reduction and access to health for all. We therefore suggest a reference to the human rights based approach to be included in the preamble of the resolution.
Recently a study performed at the Nordic School of Public Health in Sweden demonstrated a clear association of general health and stature of children in all 5 Nordic countries to the level of income, education and occupation of their parents.
In our opinion, the report should have demonstrated more clearly the important aspect of reducing poverty and its negative health impact for childhood. Providing favourable health conditions has a social and humanitarian justification in itself. Childhood poverty not only increases the exposure to health risks but also to vulnerability and less adaptability to disease. Such accumulated health risks can be avoided by reducing the number of exposures to poverty in a persons life course, of which childhood is the most critical period. We like to see this reflected in the resolution.
Lastly, since poverty is an issue tackled by many international bodies there is obviously a need for closer cooperation in this field. The UN Millennium Declaration aims at several health improvements globally by the year 2015. The EU is discussing new national action plans to combat poverty and social exclusion. The Council of Europe is preparing a European Synthesis Report about the poverty in the region. All these initiatives will undoubtedly provide basis for future work.
The Nordic countries support the Belgian proposal of establishing a drafting group.
Thank you. Mr./Madam President.