A UK global health strategy: the next steps

doi:10.1136/bmj.39276.569722.47

BMJ 2007;335:110 (21 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.39276.569722.47

Editorials

A UK global health strategy: the next steps

Is better health the fundamental goal, and will politicianscollaborate effectively?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A decade ago the US Institute of Medicine argued compellinglythat it was no more than enlightened self interest for countriesto invest in global health.¹ Such investment would help to protecttheir own citizens from external threats, strengthen the globaleconomy, and contribute to international security. In the interveningperiod, support for placing health at the centre of foreignpolicy has gathered momentum. Earlier this year the Global Healthand Foreign Policy Initiative was established by a group offoreign ministers convened by the Norwegian and French governments,²and in the United Kingdom Sir Liam Donaldson, the UK's chiefmedical adviser, has proposed a government-wide strategy forglobal health.³

The British proposals identify five reasons for promoting globalhealth. These are to improve global security and health protection,enhance sustainable development, improve trade by promotinghealth as a commodity, maximise global public goods, and encouragea human rights approach . . . [Full text of this article]

Martin McKee, professor of European public health

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT

Martin.McKee@lshtm.ac.uk