Montréal, November 13, 2011―Good evening. Merci pour cette gentille présentation. Bonsoir et bienvenue à ceux qui ont voyagé au Canada de 62 pays et aussi à Montréal, une des villes les plus dynamiques du Canada et un centre important de soins de santé au Canada. I also want to say bienvenue à tous les étudiants ici ce soir. You are quite right. It is the next generation that is so important for us to engage in our deliberations and our discussions.
I know that I always cringe a little when they say I was born in 1944 and everybody's math goes very quickly.
Actually, I think it was back in 1962 or 1963, I got accepted at the McGill School of Medicine. However, as you can tell by my c.v., I made another choice. But I always feel very close to McGill, and I must commend this institution for taking leadership on global issues, not only your program for global health but also I was here recently to talk at the McGill Institute for Food Security.
This kind of leadership demonstrates the leadership that we have right across Canada at our institutions, within our organizations and amongst our non-governmental organizations as well. I also want to thank and welcome the three partners-four partners-who have come together to put on such a distinguished conference. I can't tell you how impressed I am, and I wish you the best in your conference.
I'm happy to be back at the Global Health Conference again, a year after announcing the details of Canada's commitment to the G8 Muskoka Initiative. As you know, we've made great progress internationally, not only increasing needed resources to improve the health of mothers and children, but, as important, I believe we will be doing the work more effectively.
The Commission on Accountability and Information for Women's and Child Health, co-chaired by Canada's Prime Minister and the President of Tanzania, worked rapidly and issued its report which was accepted at the UN this summer. Canada will be hosting the first high-level gathering next week in Ottawa to help guide the international effort to adopt the recommendations of the report to achieve results and measure progress.
I know that many of you here this evening participated in the Commission's work, and I thank you for that. This year, your conference has chosen to focus on advancing health equity in the 21st century. I'm going to leave a lot of reporting to you on the exact steps and what we've accomplished on Canada's MNCH Muskoka Initiative because I know Peter Singer will be speaking shortly after me. What I do want to talk a little bit about tonight is the theme of your conference-advancing health equity in the 21st century.
Over the past five years as Canada's Minister for International Cooperation, I've seen first-hand the devastating effect that inequity has on people, particularly on those living in poverty, the most vulnerable segments of society, and on the lives of women and children. Without equity in all the key aspects of life, the world will never achieve its goal of a decent standard of living for all humanity.
Health equity is fundamental to reaching that goal. Without good health and well-being, equity in education, rule of law, employment, safety and security, and human rights will never fulfill their promises. The causes of health inequity are multiple, complex, and unique to each circumstance, whether at the family, community, regional, national or international level.
This must not, however, deter or dissuade us from addressing the inequities and doing everything we can to eliminate them. First and foremost, it is known that health equity, as do all sustainable development objectives, needs a stable and secure environment in which to flourish. True equity can only find full expression in open, free, democratic societies.
It has been proven that countries that adopt national health plans and policies that are based on principles of equity and universality with a commitment to standardized quality health care for all are the ones that make the most progress in improving their nation's health. Decentralization is an important step in building a country's health-care system to span the inequitable urban rural divide and ensure that the specific needs of local communities are met and a uniform level of service is being offered nationally.
Another cause of health inequity is the scarcity of trained health-care providers. Those that are present are usually concentrated in the larger urban areas, rarely reaching communities that are remote and hard to reach, where health needs are the greatest. In many developing countries, this reality demands that special effort and attention be given to the recruitment, training and retention of culturally, ethnically and linguistically appropriate health-care professionals and their deployment.
These are only a few of the most obvious challenges we who work in development face in advancing global health equity. However, fundamental to all of our work as we continue to work to build health systems and improve health care, we must accelerate our work to reduce poverty.
Poverty prohibits access and is a barrier for the most vulnerable-those most in need of trained health workers, a comprehensive range of services and effective medicines. It is unacceptable that each year almost 9 million children worldwide die before their fifth birthday and that an estimated 500,000 women lose their lives in pregnancy or childbirth. The majority of those deaths occur amongst those living in poverty when, as the Prime Minister has said, the solutions are known and they are inexpensive.
The greatest obstacle for the poor and vulnerable is that they cannot afford the cost of medical care or medications, even if it is available.
To address this, Canada has supported measures that reduce or eliminate the cost barrier. Just last month, I visited a maternity clinic in Haiti where, with CIDA's support, antenatal--assisted delivery and postnatal care are now free. This has increased the number of pregnant women and girls accessing the clinic, reduced the need for emergency care and resulted in healthier babies. We have also made needed medicines, vitamins and food supplements available to millions of mothers and babies.
Poverty alone, however, is not the only cause of inequitable access to medical care or medicines. In many developing countries, inequity persists amongst different cultural groups and between women and men. Our experience is that the people who suffer the most are the women and children. So, we must perhaps most importantly give the most vulnerable a voice. We need to give women greater opportunity to make demands for equitable medical care, for equitable access to quality health care for their families and their communities. Then, maybe maternal mortality will no longer be the MDG that has seen the least progress over the past decade.
If we focus on health and well-being of women in developing countries, targeting women's health, I believe the health of their children will follow. I saw this when I saw the famine victims, mostly women and children, entering the Dadaab., refugee camp in Kenya, women who put their own lives at stake for the life of their children.
As we struggle for global health equity, women must be at the heart of our work. Throughout my time as Minister, the message I heard time and time again was that Canada must support the delivery of integrated and comprehensive health services, particularly at the local level in rural areas. This means breaking down silos, working together efficiently and effectively to improve the health of the world's most vulnerable.
It means working with countries that wish to increase their capacity to deliver quality medical care to all segments of their population. It means increasing the number of trained health workers accessible to all, regardless of who they are or where they live. It also means decreasing the cost of medical care and medicines, as well as continually finding new ways to combat illness and disease effectively.
The global community needs to be innovative and creative in researching, producing and delivering less expensive systems, procedures and medications. We need to rapidly develop and implement new technologies that can accelerate overcoming the challenges we face and spread health equity to the most disadvantaged.
We know that significant challenges remain, and I can assure you that the Government of Canada is committed to addressing these challenges and delivering results to those whose lives depend on it. Many Canadian health practitioners and civil society organizations have helped to shape Canada's response to improving the health of those living in poverty, including some of you in the room this evening. Again, I thank you for that.
My challenge to all of you attending this conference, Canadians and our international partners is to help identify ways in which our work can have the greatest impact as we move forward. As I said earlier, the causes of health inequity are multiple, complex, and unique to each circumstance, but I commend you all for taking on the challenges of advancing global health equity in the 21st century.
Let me assure you that Canada will continue to work with you and support every effort in its work to achieve that very important objective. So, I wish you a very enjoyable stay here in Montreal and a very productive conference. It humbles me to think that there are so many who are committed to this cause, so much expertise who have come here to share with us your knowledge, your experiences and your passion for making this world a better place. Thank you all.
