PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
IMPROVING WORLD HEALTH AND MEETING THE 2015 POVERTY REDUCTION TARGETS (9 January 2002)

That this House welcomes the new World Health Organisation report 'Macroeconomics and Health: Investing in Health for Economic Development'; calls upon Her Majesty's Government to act on the report's conclusion that high income countries must increase their spending on health as we attempt to meet the 2015 targets for poverty reduction; agrees that improving health and life expectancy is a pre-requisite for economic growth and higher incomes in poor countries; welcomes the Chancellor of the Exchequer's commitment to tackling global health problems through the creation of tax incentives designed to encourage research and development into diseases of poverty and through a global fund for the purchase of drugs and vaccines; and further calls upon the Treasury and the Department of International Development to lead the way at the UN Financing for Development conference this March in Mexico, which will provide the opportunity to increase dramatically international development spending and thereby meet our 2015 targets for reducing disease and poverty.

Sponsored by:
Mr Tony Colman (Labour)