Speech by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO)

Geneva, 18 July 2002—World Civil Society Forum

Audio

This international conference or World Civil Society Forum is the unique opportunity for members of civil society, from around the world, to exchange ideas about development, to strengthen existing alliances and to build new ones.

When I took office in 1998, I committed the World House Organization to a new and innovative way of working with Civil Society. Since then collaboration with NGOs and other civil society groups has become an important component of WHO work in the field of global public health.

WHO has expanded a number of alliances with several society organizations and we are working together in new ways to make a difference in people’s lives.

Civil Society Organizations alongside governments of the United Nation Organizations and the Private Sector play an important role in scaling up health and development at the community, national and international levels.

Civil Society contributes to development through its research expertise, technical advice, policy analysis, public education and social mobilisation work.

Civil Society organizations are often in the front line in their outreach to remote and disadvantage populations and in providing humanitarian assistance. Their work compliments the work of WHO and by working together, we can provide value of all health related support, that we would not otherwise be able to.

Civil Society has helped move critical development issues to the centre of a national and international agenda and they have helped put people at the centre of sustainable development.

They also play a critical role in the global movement to place health at the centre of development and in calling for an enormous scaling up of investment in health.

We know that poverty is a cause of ill health, but poor health is also a cause of poverty. Children who are sick and impoverished do not learn well. Adults who are ill cannot be fully productive members of society.

Improving health, particularly the health of the world’s poor, is not only a desirable outcome of sustainable development. It is also a powerful and undervalued means of achieving it.

In the war against poverty and disease, the World Health Organization and its member states will only be able to achieve the health indicators agreed upon in the Millennium Development Goals by creating new and effective alliances. This is why we need to be closely working together in a transparent and open process.

Thank you very much.