MEPs’ plea for fund to fight killer diseases

Date: 03/05/01

By John Shelley

A Dutch socialist and a British centre-right MEP have teamed up to make an impassioned plea to the heads of the United Nations and World Health Organisation to set up a fund to combat killer diseases worldwide.

Dorette Corbey from the Netherlands and UK Conservative Bashir Khanbhai have jointly written to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Gro Harlem Brundtland, the director general of the WHO, asking for their support in setting up a fund to help fight the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

"All these three diseases are still on the increase despite existing efforts," they write.

"Communicable diseases do not respect national frontiers and the failure to combat these diseases in one country exposes the global community to unnecessary and unacceptable risks of infection."

They say the fund should be set up by the EU, the UN, the WHO and the G8 countries and be used to pay for the development, purchasing and distribution of vaccines globally.

"It will be essential to fund the supply of medication for those infected, screening to identify carriers, prevention and help for research and development of new drugs and vaccines," they say.

"It will give the poorest a chance to maintain basic health standards and acquire the technology for self-reliance through enterprise."

A Dutch socialist and a British centre-right MEP have teamed up to make an impassioned plea to the heads of the United Nations and World Health Organisation to set up a fund to combat killer diseases worldwide.