Global Health Policy

New York City’s annual high level UN bash is an occasion for grand, development-related announcements and commitments. This year’s meeting, which took place last week, focused on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), but I was particularly pleased to see follow up from one of last year’s big announcements--the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. Following its launch at last year’s UN Leaders’ Summit for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, the strategy inspired over $40 billion in financial commitments, aiming “to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015.” This year, on September 20th, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) released its one-year assessment of progress under this strategy.

On September 20, heads of state and officials from every country in the world will meet at the United Nations to discuss the non-communicable diseases (NCD) -- heart disease, cancers, diabetes, and asthma -- that are responsible for 63 percent of global deaths annually. Contrary to popular belief, NCD do not primarily affect those of us living in wealthy countries; rather, 80 percent of NCD deaths occur in developing countries, mostly the middle-income countries.

While the developed world commits itself to austerity measures and slashes aid budgets across the board, emerging economies are increasingly using foreign aid and direct investment to increase their soft power and global clout. In two articles this week, The Economist reports that India plans to set up its own aid agency. Once the world’s biggest aid recipient, India now plans to give $11.3 billion in the next five to seven years. While most of this sum is expected to be in the form of foreign direct investment, it also covers capacity building and humanitarian assistance for the poorest countries.