The fight against tropical poverty-related diseases is worth the effort

 

Representatives from the Joint Conference on Church and Development (GKKE) and the research-based pharmaceutical industry acknowledged today in Berlin their responsibility in the fight against tropical poverty-related diseases and outlined how help could be provided to developing countries in this respect. "What's necessary is a collaboration that also includes the governments of the affected countries and the institutions of development cooperation apart from the churches and pharmaceutical companies," said the chairman of GKKE, Prelate Dr. Karl Jüsten.

Progress in the fight against tropical poverty-related diseases could support the economic development of the countries in question far beyond the health care sector itself. "New forms of distribution for costs, risks, usage rights and distribution tasks to several partners enable pharmaceutical companies to contribute their expertise in inventing new pharmaceuticals," explained Cornelia Yzer, director-general of the VFA. This commitment in so-called public-private partnerships will be expanded further.

Presented in Berlin today, the white paper "The fight against tropical poverty-related diseases" by the Working Group on Churches/Pharmaceutical Industry, which is composed of GKKE and VFA representatives, focuses on tropical diseases that were eclipsed by more frequent infectious diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the past. They include trachoma and other bacterial infectious diseases as well as worm infestations and infections involving parasitic protozoa such as Chagas disease or sleeping sickness.

Prelate Dr. Karl Jüsten explained: "We - the churches and their aid organizations - are prepared to contribute our resources as part of a wider network. In this context, we welcome the fact that the pharmaceutical companies increasingly accept their social responsibility and even invest in research where quick profits can not be expected."

"We are happy that we found a common viewpoint with the churches in many respects regarding the problem situation of public health," said Cornelia Yzer. "Together, we have come to realize that overcoming the great difficulties in the distribution of medication and in local medical care in developing countries is very important." In this area, pharmaceutical companies can also provide support and are partly doing so already, but in the fight against tropical poverty-related diseases they can rightly be expected to be called upon especially for their core expertise - the development of new drugs. Many projects have already started, about three-quarters of them are part of public-private partnerships.

"One of the guiding ideas of the paper is that progress in the public health of Third World countries must no longer be viewed as a consequence but also as a cause of development progress in other economic and social areas," said author Dr. Matthias Vennemann, an international health consultant from Münster. "In other words: A direct commitment in the health care sector leads not just to better public health but also 'yields interest' in the form of development progress in other areas." This must also have an impact on the commitment of the governments of the affected countries and the work of institutions in development cooperation.

The white paper on "The fight against tropical poverty-related diseases" and other documents about this press release are available at:

http://www.vfa.de/pk20061130

The Joint Conference on Church and Development (GKKE) represents a collaboration between the German Protestant Development Service (EED) and the German Commission Justitia et Pax (Roman-Catholic). Among their tasks is the development of joint position papers and the dialog with the political arena and social organizations on North-South policy issues.

Stand: 30.11.2006