A look back on the last century or so of global health & development milestones.
Created by GHhub on Apr 20, 2011
Last updated: 05/21/13 at 12:39 AM
Tags: global health development timeline vaccines aid organizations UN UNICEF World bank AIDS PEPFAR USAID
Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, released in the Lancet 12/2012.
http://www.thelancet.com/themed/global-burden-of-disease
On 13 May, 2010, the UNGA decided unanimously to "convene a high-level meeting of the General Assembly … on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases." This step was taken after consideration of the global health, socio-economic and development impacts of the four main types of NCDs, namely cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.
http://www.un.org/en/ga/president/65/issues/ncdiseases.shtml
During the Decade of Action a coalition will campaign to make sure that politicians, institutions like the World Bank, vehicle manufacturers and transport planners put road safety first.
http://www.who.int/roadsafety/decade_of_action/en/index.html
ThThe Global Health Hub provides an online gateway to news, commentary and resources related to global health and development. The Hub employs novel tools that aggregate and traditional and non-mainstream content sources to help people interested and involved in global health to quickly find information from pre-screened sources. Furthermore, the Hub aims to foster dialogue by giving a spotlight to high-impact voices and connecting people to up-to-date information about pressing issues in global health.
www.globalhealthhub.org
The Commission, created to marshal the evidence on what can be done to promote health equity and to foster a global movement to achieve it, is a global collaboration of policymakers, researchers, and civil society led by Commissioners with a unique blend of political, academic, and advocacy experience. Importantly, the focus of attention embraces
countries at all levels of income and development: the global South and North. Health equity is an issue within all our
countries and is affected significantly by the global economic and political system.
http://www.who.int/social_determinants/en/
The Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) was drawn up in 2008 and builds on the commitments agreed in the Paris Declaration.
http://www.oecd.org/document/19/0,3746,en_2649_3236398_43554003_1_1_1_1,00.html
Declaration issued by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, France, Indonesia, Norway, Senegal, South Africa, and Thailand under the Foreign Policy and Global Health Initiative. The initative is based on the idea that health as foreign policy needs a stronger strategic focus in world affairs and the global agenda.
http://www.who.int/trade/events/Oslo_Ministerial_Declaration.pdf
The Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) was established to support countries and global health partners to address the social factors leading to ill health and inequities. It drew the attention of society to the social determinants of health that are known to be among the worst causes of poor health and inequalities between and within countries.
http://www.who.int/social_determinants/en/
The Paris Declaration is an international agreement endorsed by over one hundred Ministers, Heads of Agencies and other Senior Officials to continue to increase efforts in harmonisation, alignment and managing aid for results with a set of monitorable actions and indicators.
http://www.oecd.org/document/19/0,3746,en_2649_3236398_43554003_1_1_1_1,00.html
Updated GBD Report
http://www.globalhealthhub.org/2011/04/21/flashback-to-gbd-1990-report/
The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was a pledge of $15 billion from 2003-2008 from the U.S. to combat the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. The initial law outlining PEPFARs role was the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (or the Global AIDS Act) signed by George W. Bush in May of 2003. In 2008 PEPFAR was renewed and explanded with funds of $48 billion through 2013.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 2003 and entered into force on 27 February 2005. It has since become one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in United Nations history.
http://www.who.int/entity/fctc/en
The Global Fund is a public-private partnership and international financing institution to support health systems strengthening in the areas of AIDS, TB and malaria. The Global Fund had nearly $22 billion dollars in approved funding in 2010.
Originally proposed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2001and initial comitment made by the UN in June 2001. By March 2002 36 countries were approved for the first round of grants from the new fund.
http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/
The Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH) was established by World Health Organization Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland in January 2000 to assess the place of health in global economic development. Although health is widely understood to be both a central goal and
an important outcome of development, the importance of investing in health to promote economic development and poverty reduction has been much less appreciated. [The commission] found that extending the coverage of crucial health services, including a relatively small number of specific interventions, to the world’s poor could save millions of lives each year, reduce poverty, spur economic development, and promote global security.
www.who.int/macrohealth/en/
In June 2001, Heads of State and Representatives of Governments met at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session dedicated to HIV/AIDS. The meeting recognized that the AIDS epidemic had caused untold suffering and death worldwide. The UN Special Session also served to remind the world that there was hope. With sufficient will and resources, communities and countries could change the course of the epidemic.
Heads of State and Representatives of Governments issued the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. This Declaration sets out a series of national targets and global actions to reverse the epidemic and Member States are required to submit Country Progress reports to the UNAIDS Secretariat every two years.
http://www.un.org/ga/aids/conference.html
The People’s Health Assembly in Savar, Bangladesh, in December 2000, and the People’s Health Movement that evolved from it are both a civil society effort to counter this global laissez faire and to challenge health policy makers around the world with a Peoples Health Campaign for Health for All-Now!
http://www.phmovement.org/en/node/189
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were extrapolated from development targets estabished at the Millennium Summit and the Millenium Declaration by the UN. Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rates Goal 5: Improve maternal health Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) was started at the World Economic Forum and includes numerous partners (WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, vaccine industry, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation among others). GAVI is focused on vaccines for priority illnesses including diarrhea and pneumonia.
http://www.gavialliance.org/
By signing the Declaration the African leaders rededicated themselves to the principles and targets of the Harare Declaration of 1997. They committed themselves to an intensive effort to halve the malaria mortality for Africa's people by 2010, through implementing strategies and actions for Roll Back Malaria, as agreed at the Summit. In addition, they agreed:
http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/docs/abuja_declaration_final.htm
The RBM Partnership is the global framework to implement coordinated action against malaria. It mobilizes for action and resources and forges consensus among partners. The Partnership is comprised of more than 500 partners, including malaria endemic countries, their bilateral and multilateral development partners, the private sector, nongovernmental and community-based organizations, foundations, and research and academic institutions.
http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/index.html
UNAIDS created.
http://www.unaids.org/en/aboutunaids/
WHO and UNICEF Introduced the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness Initiative, one of the major strategies for addressing childhood public health.
Direct observed therapy (short course) initiated by WHO
http://www.who.int/tb/dots/en/
Originally named the William H. Gates Foundation, the foundation was started with a $94 million dollar pledge.
In 1999 Melinda's name was represented and in 2008 Bill retired from Microsoft to run the foundation full time.
In 2006 Warren Buffet joined the team with a 10 years pledge of approximately $30 billion.
Since its inception, the foundation has awarded nearly $24.5 billion in gants.
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx
The original Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD 1990 Study) was commissioned by the World Bank in 1991 to provide a comprehensive assessment of the burden of 107 diseases and injuries and ten selected risk factors for the world and eight major regions in 1990. The methods of the GBD 1990 Study created a common metric to estimate the health loss associated with morbidity and mortality. It generated widely published findings and comparable information on disease and injury incidence and prevalence for all world regions.
http://www.globalhealthhub.org/2011/04/21/flashback-to-gbd-1990-report/
This was the first time Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was recognized as a disease by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Variola virus was certified as eradicated by the WHO in 1979. In 1967 it was estimated by the WHO that 15 million people worldwide contracted the disease and 2 million died in that year alone.
The Alma Ata declaration, established at the International Conference on Primary Health Care in Almaty (present day Kazakhstan) was a call to promote primary health care and equity worldwide. It was among the first declarations to promote health as a basic human right. Main themes include: * Focusing on the most basic health care provision, especially in rural areas * Involving community health workers, non-physician care providers, and even traditional healers * Calling for community participation rather than the traditional top-down approaches * Establishing broad interventions
The fist essential medicines list published for priority global health conditions by the WHO.
http://www.who.int/medicines/publications/essentialmedicines/en/
Médecins Sans Frontières formed in France as a humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in the wake of the war and accompanying famine in Biafra, Nigeria, and the floods in eastern Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
In 1999, MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/aboutus/timeline.cfm
Originating with the International Sanitary Regulations from 1851 and revised and adopted by the 22nd World Health Assembly in 1969
WHO establishes the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
http://www.iarc.fr/
For more vaccine history: http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/timelines/all
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was formed by President John F. Kennedy in order to implement development assistance programs as stipulated by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. USAID is technically an independent federal agency with direction from the Secretary of State which aims to provide long-term social and economic development for developing nations by "...combining the economic and technical assistance operations of the International Cooperation Agency, the loan activities of the Development Loan Fund, the local currency functions of the Export-Import Bank, and the agricultural surplus distribution activities of the Food for Peace program of the Department of Agriculture. "
http://www.usaid.gov/
Enacted by legislative process of President John F. Kennedy, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 served to create plans and programs to increase economic resources and productive capacities of less developed countries. The FAA also created stipulations for what would become the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Economic Support Fund program.
Passage of this Act established the Peace Corps as a national service organization whose mission includes: providing technical assistance, helping foreign nationalities understand U.S. culture and helping Americans understand other cultures.
http://www.peacecorps.gov/
The WFP, a branch of the UN was created at the Food and Agriculture Organization Conference in 1960 as a multilateral food aid programme (formally established by the UN General Assembly in 1963).
The IADB/IDB (or BID in Spanish) was originally proposed by then President of Brazil Juscelino Kubitshek and established by articles drafted by the Oranization of American States. The IDB is the largest source of developing financing for Latin America and the Carribean with 48 member states and 26 countries eligible for loans. Te single largest shareholder is the U.S.
In the annual meeting in 2010, the Board of Governors agreed on full debt forgiveness for Haiti, the poorest member country still devastated by the January 2010 earthquake.
Approved lending and grants in 2009 totaled approximately $15.5 billion.
http://www.iadb.org/en/inter-american-development-bank,2837.html
World Health Assembly initiates the smallpox eradication programme
Launched by the WHO
After successful efforts to reduce malaria with DDT beginning in 1945, in 1955 the 8th World Health Assembly launched the Global Malaria Eradication campaign for all malarious countries except Madagascar and those of sub-Saharan Africa, [16] using IRS, primarily with DDT, as a vector control tool together with case management. In all, 37 of the 143 countries that were endemic in 1950 were freed from malaria by 1978, of which 27 are in Europe or the Americas. [17] The effort had a positive impact on malaria mortality and morbidity in almost all targeted countries. However, some of the countries were unsuccessful in interrupting transmission. By 1973 it was concluded that in some countries a "time-limited eradication program was impracticable"[18], and strategies were shifted into long-term integrated control programs. The Global Malaria Eradication campaign was abandoned.
http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/gmap/1-3.html
Jonas Salk announces the first inactivated poiovirus vaccine (IPV), made possible by the research of John Enders et al at Children's Hospital Boston (for which Enders and his lab received the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine).
The Foreign Operations Administration was created as a government agency independent from the U.S. State Department whose role it would be to coordinate economic and technical assistance worldwide. In 1955 the responsibilities of this office were (by Executive Order) transferred to the Department of State and Department of Defense.
Mass immunization programs underway with BCG vaccine for TB.
Smallpox virus is estimated to have killed 300 million people worldwide between 1900 and 1970. In the 1940s, virologist Leslie Collier (recently passed away March 2011) developed a vaccine for smallpox that was more stable and built of work from such scientists as Edward Jenner.
This declaration was adopted by the UN in 1948 as a result of Nazi atrocities during WWII and represented the global community's expression of inherent rights to which all humans are entitled.
International Classification of Disease - the global standard to report and categorize diseases, health-related conditions and external causes of disease and injury - is published.
http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/
The World Health Organization (WHO) was formed in 1948 as a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). Continuing in the footsteps of its predecessor (The Health Organization - of the League of Nations), The WHO became the coordinating authority on international public health.
http://www.who.int/en/
Also known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), the Marshall Plan was an economic framework for rebuilding a stronger economic foundation in Europe. Ultimately the Marshall plan would supply the roots for USAID and U.S. foreign assistance policy thereafter.
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