Thank you for giving the floor to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies under this item.
We asked to speak to underline our support for the directions of the Secretariat’s report. In many ways it parallels our own approach, which is well-known to Governments, International Organisations and our own worldwide National Red Cross and Red Crescent Society membership.
Our approach is exemplified by the theme of the 30th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, held in Geneva in late November 2007. The theme, “Together for Humanity”, included a strong message that the great humanitarian challenges facing the world now are all of a quality which puts them beyond the capacity of any one government or organisation.
One of the challenges identified at our Conference is “Emergent and recurrent diseases and other health challenges”. The Conference strengthened its own understanding of these challenges when David Heymann of WHO played a lead role in the Conference’s introductory panel discussions.
When the world’s governments and our Movement together adopted their “Together for Humanity” Declaration, they took note of the IFRC’s Global Health and Care Strategy for the period 2006-2010. They specifically noted that this Strategy has been brought to the attention of the World Health Assembly, and recorded their expectation that it would add value to partnerships aimed at meeting the great health challenges now facing the world.
All governments are aware of these documents, but it is worth adding that they are available from the IFRC website (www.ifrc.org).
We are pleased that our relationship with WHO has helped build a strong and vibrant partnering, relevant to many different aspects of the health challenge.
They are encapsulated in the Joint Letter signed by our Secretary General and the then WHO Director General in May 2005. They are given additional substance at the regional level through Memoranda of Understanding and other documents signed by us with four of WHO’s six regional offices. It is our hope that the remaining regional offices, WPRO and EURO, will be brought formally within this network in the near future.
Our relationship is not only about work we do as organisations with one another. It is much more about the way our memberships work together, including through participation in international initiatives and partnerships such as those addressing HIV, polio, measles, tuberculosis, malaria, ebola, influenza, safe blood and more.
The IFRC, for its part, has a high priority for the provision of the tools necessary for National Societies to work productively with their public authorities as auxiliaries.
This auxiliary relationship has existed for very many years, but it was given fresh definition by the 2007 International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent by being categorised as “a specific and distinctive partnership, entailing mutual responsibilities and benefits, based on international and national laws, in which the national public authorities and the National Society agree on the areas in which the National Society supplements or substitutes public humanitarian services”.
We note, in this context, that WHO has also accepted a role at the national level by supporting the relationships established between Ministries of Health and National Societies on the development and implementation of national strategies. This has worked well in some countries in keynote areas, and partnering to address the avian and human influenza threat is a good example.
The auxiliary relationship presents fresh opportunities for partnership in the health field. It is our hope that it will lead to discussions in all countries between governments and National Societies on the building and maintenance of strong partnerships.
These discussions have already begun in some countries, and it is our hope that they will take place in all, before long. This is a mandate flowing from the International Conference, at which it was also agreed by governments and National Societies that public health, including water and sanitation, epidemic control and public health emergencies, would be included as an integral part of effective disaster management.
With this in mind, we also welcome the Secretariat’s report for its stress on global partnerships and the engagement it offers as an organisation. The speech just delivered by the distinguished Minister of Health of Mali on the importance of communities and the national level show, however, the importance of including those levels in this discussion in future.
We will take this further in specific fields at the next World Health Assembly. Before it convenes, from 14-16 May, the IFRC will once again be hosting its Global Health Forum, which brings together selected National Societies with experts from WHO and other relevant organisations, as well as with some Ministers and other government representatives.
The theme of our Forum this year is Primary health care and the role of National Societies. The Forum will look at the thirty years which have passed since the adoption of the Alma Ata Declaration. WHO involvement in the Forum will support our shared objective of reinforcing primary health care as the key to the attainment of the goal of Health for All.
It will also focus attention on the contribution of the volunteers in their communities and help governments, organisations, WHO and the IFRC contribute to strengthening and invigorating PHC in the 21st century. And contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, working with you in the spirit of the new item you have placed on your agenda on this topic.
We hope this work will be able to be reflected in future Secretariat reports on partnerships, and look forward to working with the Director General and her regional and headquarters colleagues on giving even more strength to our already solid and productive partnership.
|
 |
|
News
