Unleashing Southern Capacities for Development

Welcoming Remards by Mr. Yiping Zhou,
Director, Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, UNDP,
on the Occasion of the South-South Development Solution Forum on Global Health
Washington, D.C., 16 December 2009.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me to extend my welcome as Director of the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation in UNDP to the South-South Development Solution Forum on Global Health. As part of the second annual Global South-South Development Expo and in conjunction with the 6th annual United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation, we are privileged to hear from esteemed colleagues and panelists sharing some of the most innovative Southern responses to combat critical challenges in global health.

The multiple, concurrent crises of climate change, the financial situation , food insecurity and the like only serve to heighten the concerns regarding the issues of global health. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, the spread of disease across borders poses an ever greater threat to global health, as seen in the current situation with swine flu or H1N1, which currently affects all 35 countries in the Americas region and has resulted in thousands of deaths. These borderless threats require cooperation and coordination among countries and present an ideal opportunity for the implementation of South-South strategies.

In the midst of these crises, we have seen tremendous success in combating certain diseases of our time. In the case of tuberculosis, data from the World Health Organization show that 36 million cases have been cured over the past 15 years and 8 million deaths have been averted. In the past 8 years, new HIV infections overall have been reduced by 17%, with a 15% reduction in sub-Saharan Africa, and a nearly 25% reduction in East Asia.

South-South cooperation, which includes the sharing of knowledge, experience, resources and even technologies, is a vital tool in our work to protect global health - whether in preventing the spread of disease, facilitating access to health information, or combining resources to fight those neglected tropical diseases that afflict over 1 billion people. A notable example of South-South cooperation in the area of global health is China's efforts to combat malaria through the establishment of malaria centres in 30 African countries with the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM), a joint initiative of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNDP, and the World Bank. Another case to note is the South-South Initiative for Tropical Diseases Research introduced in 2001 to harness the diverse research and training capability in disease-endemic countries. These are just a few examples of South-South initiatives in the realm of global health, pointing to the very real potential of cooperation to combat disease.

Today we will hear from a number of presenters from across the South highlighting their work in this area and how these solutions have the potential for South-South learning to scale up their development impact.

Thank you again to our hosts, the Pan American Health Organization, to each of the panelists here today and to our eminent keynote speaker, Dr. Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winning solutions in Global Health: "Lady Health Workers: Saving Children's Lives" (Pakistan); the "SALTRA Program" (the "Program on Work and Health") (Central America); and "Fit for School" (the Philippines).

Thank you.

SPEECHES:

Fostering Cooperation in Health among Developing Countries
   Dr. Mirta Roses-Periago, Director, Pan American Health Organization.

Protecting Global Health in a time of crisis
   Dr. Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, Deputy Director, World Health Organization

Message at the Opening Ceremony of the Global South-South Development Expo 2009.
   Dr. Margaret Chan Director-General, World Health Organization.

The Global South-South Development Expo showcases successful southern-grown development solutions. The Expo has served as a vibrant platform for the international community to celebrate achievements; share development successes; explore new avenues for collaboration; forge innovative South-South, triangular and public-private partnerships; and launch concrete collaborative schemes towards achieving internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.