Research
23 March, 2006
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Poverty, Equity & Health Research
Poverty Equity and Health Research
http://tinymce.moxiecode.cp/mce_temp_urlfilesupld/forum9/report/Rap_Forum9.pdf
The second report published by the Global Forum on an annual meeting, Poverty, Equity & Health Research, summarizes the many oral and poster presentations and group discussions that took place at Forum 9 and includes a CD-ROM with full papers of presentations, press releases and the final documentation of the meeting. December 2005. 60 pages. ISBN 2-940286-38-8
Forum 9, which took place in Mumbai, India from 12 to 16 September 2005 and was opened by the President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, brought together some 600 participants from over 80 countries. Participants represented national policy-makers, multilateral and bilateral aid agencies, international and national foundations and NGOs, women’s organizations, research institutions and universities, the private sector and the media.
Several key messages emerge in the report, including growing recognition that the ‘neglected diseases’, which have been of concern in recent years, are but an aspect of a wider picture involving ‘neglected people’. It emphasizes that much of the burden of morbidity and mortality that affects the poor and marginalized – for example, the high rates of maternal and infant mortality, malnutrition and infectious diseases that they suffer – are avoidable with simple, effective and cheap interventions that are already known, but the capacity is often lacking to deliver these interventions and to make them accessible and affordable to all people, highlighting that there are also ‘neglected health systems’.
The report stresses that reducing inequities in health requires political will, increased resources and enhanced effort to organize and deliver health products and services effectively. It also needs research – whether biomedical research to create the needed drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and medical appliances; health policy and systems research to understand and improve the organization and functioning of the health sector; social sciences and behavioural research to increase understanding of the factors that determine health and affect health-seeking behaviour; or operational research to examine how effectively systems and interventions are working on the ground and how they can be improved.