Health, poverty, and sanitation to feature highly in world summit

A bedraggled, barely clothed man, his small packages tied to his back, walks past grand houses near the Wanderers Club—a country club in the north of Johannesburg where major sections of the forthcoming world summit will take place.

He and several others like him have had to move from this opulent area, where he makes his “bed” in the open, to make way for the cars, delegates, and dignitaries of the summit who have come to discuss poverty, resources, and the health of the planet and its people.

Johannesburg's homeless are being “hidden” and moved for the convenience of visitors. From next Monday, Johannesburg will host the 2002 world summit on sustainable development. A good look at the surroundings should educate most delegates on the important issues to be covered. The official sections of the conference are held in areas close to Johannesburg that have been characterised by one celebrity doctor as having more vitamins in the urine discharged into sewers than in the bodies of needy residents in nearby Soweto.

The World Health Organization's director general, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, will be hosting a session towards the end of next week to deal with several health issues.

“Health is both a resource for, as well as an outcome of, sustainable development. The goals of sustainable development cannot be achieved when there is a high prevalence of debilitating illness and poverty, and the health of a population cannot be maintained without a responsive health system and a healthy environment,” the WHO has said about its participation in the summit.

Calls for change to the system of organised trade (encapsulated by the World Trade Organization) will come from the anti-globalisation movement and health experts.

Under one of many spotlights will be the system that protects intellectual property rights (TRIPPS), whereby pharma- ceutical companies protect their right to sell their branded drugs for what they see as reasonable profits.

Environmentalists and health experts will converge on the discussions on water and sanitation. The United Nations estimates that 1.1 billion people have no access to fresh water and 2.4 billion lack access to adequate sanitation.

“Without adequate clean water, there can be no escape from poverty,” says Klaus Toepfer, the head of the UN environment programme.

The major health theme, however, will be HIV/AIDS, although the planned events on this issue are likely to be overshadowed by the participation of the South African health minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala- Msimang, and President Thabo Mbeki. Both men are considered by many to be impeding progress in dealing with the epidemic. (See editorial p 399.)