DH launches global health strategy

The UK government has launched a new strategy to improve global health.

The initiative is designed to reorganise the way that the UK government will work with WHO, the EU and a number of other partners, to work towards a better standard of global healthcare. It will receive £12 million of funding over the next five years to tackle the main problems that affect global health.

The main challenges it identifies are:

• climate change
• emerging diseases
• the links between health and foreign policy and national security
• the increasing importance of non-communicable diseases in low and middle income countries.

The strategy goes on to suggest that action needs to be taken to:

• improve health security
• develop strong and fair systems for health
• create more effective international health organisations
• encourage free and fair trade
• strengthen the way policies and practices are developed.