Reasons to be cheerful?
BMJ 2001; 323 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7305.0 (Published 21 July 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;323:0All rapid responses
Rapid responses are electronic comments to the editor. They enable our users to debate issues raised in articles published on bmj.com. A rapid response is first posted online. If you need the URL (web address) of an individual response, simply click on the response headline and copy the URL from the browser window. A proportion of responses will, after editing, be published online and in the print journal as letters, which are indexed in PubMed. Rapid responses are not indexed in PubMed and they are not journal articles. The BMJ reserves the right to remove responses which are being wilfully misrepresented as published articles or when it is brought to our attention that a response spreads misinformation.
From March 2022, the word limit for rapid responses will be 600 words not including references and author details. We will no longer post responses that exceed this limit.
The word limit for letters selected from posted responses remains 300 words.
Dear Sir/Madam:
The world today is facing a human disaster of epic
proportions caused by the combined effects of HIV/AIDS, TB
and malaria primarily on the poor. This is why the Global
AIDS and Health Fund was launched. Its purpose is to
provide adequate access to low-cost, highly effective
treatments and preventative programs.
A massive and concerted effort is required to ensure that the
Fund is sufficiently funded on a sustained basis. The G8
Summit in Genoa would have been the perfect opportunity for
the leaders of the world?s richest countries to make such a.
commitment. But instead they showed a complete lack of
willingness to seriously address this global crisis by
pledging a woefully inadequate US $1.2 billion. This token
amount is equivalent to just six weeks of debt payment by
sub-Saharan Africa.
A group of statesmen led by Henry Kissinger, known as the
shadow Group of Eight, had called for a pledge of US $10
billion per year. This is not that outrageous considering
that the developed world spends nearly three times that
amount annually just on perfumes and pet food.
The G8 leaders can redeem themselves by having their finance
ministers meet to collectively agree to make more
substantial commitments. For the developed world to
continue to pay lip service to the staggering human and
socio-economic costs of these diseases of poverty is simply
unconscionable.
Sincerely,
Stephen St. Denis
Ottawa, Canada.
Competing interests: No competing interests
spread some cheer($)
Editor: G-8, the rich countries' club, met in Genoa and pledged $630m
the annual cost of tackling: HIV infection,TB and malaria. The need for a stronger
health system "has almost become a mantra in internationally policy
statements". Some people looked at this "revolution in thinking" and were not
convinced. We hope that that the "old agenda of monetarist macroeconomic
policies does not remain just a promise". In 1980 and '90s the world bank
and international monetary fund offered low income countries a new
life line: debt relief conditional on "poverty reduction strategy
papers". Small divided countries of former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Slovenia and
others) and many others in the world need some of the cheer-$-money
to improve some problems for the people in need. Thanks for nice words.
Competing interests: No competing interests