LONDON (AFP) — Prime Minister Gordon Brown launched an international initiative Wednesday to improve the quality of healthcare in some of the world's poorest countries.
The International Health Partnership (IHP) aims to build stronger health systems in the developing world and make it easier for struggling nations to deal with international partners.
"Our vision today is that we can triumph over ancient scourges and for the first time in history conquer polio, TB, measles and then with further advances and initiatives, go on to address pneumococcal pneumonia, malaria and eventually HIV/AIDS," Brown said ahead of the official announcement at his Downing Street office.
"Today we come together -- donor governments, health agencies and developing countries -- with the certainty that we have the knowledge and the power to save millions through our efforts."
The IHP brings together bodies like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the governments of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway and Canada.
The first wave of developing countries which will hook up with the IHP is Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, Cambodia and Nepal, all of which will commit to prioritizing health issues.
Officials say that over the next couple of years, the seven countries will identify particular problems in their national health systems before working with international partners to address them.
The project does not involve new funding but the British government says that global aid for health has doubled since 2000.
"This is about making what we do more effective, adding up to greater than the sum of its parts... It's about getting a bigger bang for your buck," said a senior British government source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Barbara Stocking, the director of charity Oxfam, welcomed the launch of the IHP but said it needed extra cash to achieve its goals.
"This initiative will only succeed if enough countries get behind it and if it mobilises additional aid to provide co-ordinated and expanded state health provision," she said.
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said the IHP was being launched with the world community "seriously off track" in its aim of meeting United Nations Millenium Development Goals, particularly on health.
The goals, set in 2000 and which are due to be met by 2015, include tackling disease and reducing child mortality rates, and those involved hope the IHP can kickstart these efforts.
Officials expect that other countries, both donors and developing countries, will get involved as the IHP evolves.
The United States has not signed up for the IHP but has been involved "in quite close discussions from the start" over its development, the source said.
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