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September 7, 2007
Global Effort Needed to Eradicate Major Diseases: Brown

London
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on the international community to join together and help eradicate the world's major diseases such as polio, tuberculosis and malaria.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference on the launch of the International Health Partnership (IHP), Brown said that the world's leading nations now had the "science and technology" and the "moral obligation" to wipe out diseases such as measles, diptheria, tuberculosis and pneumonia.

The IHP, formally launched on Sep 5, will seek to accelerate progress on the health Millennium Development Goals. By pressing ahead with the health MDGs, Brown said he hoped that the "emergency of today" could be turned into the "achievement of 2015".

He said: "There is no greater cause than that every man, woman and child in the world should be able to benefit from the best medicine and healthcare. And 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.

"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 of lives through our efforts."

Brown was joined at the launch by representatives from key agencies and donor nations, including Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and French Development Minister Jean-Marie Bockel.

Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organisation, said that the Millennium Development Goals represented the "most ambitious commitments" and the "most important interventions" of the international community.  

IANS | September 7, 2007 

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