For richer, for poorer

Substantial reversals of the global trend in improvements in health of the past 150 years are now evident in large parts of the developing world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.1 Health is both a human right,2 and contributes to economic development.34 This creates a compelling case for investing in health, especially since several cost effective interventions are available that can produce rapid and broadly shared improvements in health.56

The international community is committed to the millennium development goals, most of which are closely related to health status or determinants of health. However, much of the developing world will not meet those goals by the designated date of 2015 unless the industrialised world makes major long term commitments to provide new resources.7 Because the G8 countries account for roughly half the world's economic activity and dominate the decision making processes of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), appropriate commitment at the 2005 UK summit could turn the page on decades of neglect and fatal indifference.8