Heroes for a Better World

Gro Harlem Brundtland
(1939-)

Former Director-General of the World Health Organization
2001 World Ecology Award
The Elders

birthdate: April 20
birthplace:
Oslo, Norway

QUOTES

you cannot tackle hunger, disease, and poverty unless you can also provide people with a healthy ecosystem in which their economies can grow.

A safe and nutritionally adequate diet is a basic individual right and an essential condition for sustainable development, especially in developing countries.

An important lever for sustained action in tackling poverty and reducing hunger is money.

I have repeatedly stressed that we have the knowledge to reduce hunger and poverty.

The dual scourge of hunger and malnutrition will be truly vanquished not only when granaries are full, but also when people's basic health needs are met and women are given their rightful role in societies.

You cannot achieve environmental security and human development without addressing the basic issues of health and nutrition.

I see WHO's role as being the moral voice and the technical leader in improving health of the people of the world. Ready and able to give advice on the key issues that can unleash development and alleviate suffering. I see our purpose to be combating disease and ill-health - promoting sustainable and equitable health systems in all countries".

if globalization is to realise its potential as a force for good, we have to look more closely at the means by which we handle our growing interdependence. We do not have a world government, but we do have an increasingly complex network of institutions that are concerned with global governance. They are central to our future and international human rights law,

globalization can help to transform the lives of millions. If, as many critics warn, it leads to inequity, it is a sign of failure. Our challenge is to make the positive things happen. To shape the world. To make certain that the forces of globalization contribute to a more just and inclusive global society.

Only when we convince these decision-makers about the wider social and economic benefits to their country of investing in health, will we create a proper momentum for improved health care.

People are at the centre of sustainable development, and health is at the centre of human development and prosperity.

We are six billion people co-existing on our fragile planet, many of whom are dangerously short of the food, water and security they need to live. In contrast, there are millions who suffer because they use too much. All of them face high risks of ill-health.

some 170 million children in poor countries are underweight, mainly from lack of food, while more than one billion adults worldwide - in middle-income and high-income countries alike - are overweight or obese.

With vision, commitment and successful leadership, the world could end the first decade of the 21st century having drastically reduced the gap between the rich and the poor.

The reality is that public health, as never before, is a priority on the global agenda. This is for the simple reason that so many of the challenges we now face have a global impact, requiring solutions and a global response. We are living in an interconnected and interdependent world.

There can be no real growth without healthy populations. No sustainable development without tackling disease and malnutrition. No international security without assisting crisis-ridden countries. And no hope for the spread of freedom, democracy and human dignity unless we treat health as a basic human right.

Women power is a formidable force.

Women will not become more empowered merely because we want them to be, but through legislative changes, increased information, and redirection of resources. It would be fatal to overlook this issue.

Never have so many had such broad and advanced access to health care. But never have so many been denied access to health.

Girls and women who are denied access to education, information and real forms of economic, social and political participation are particularly vulnerable. Some political regimes favour vaccination of young boys over young girls. It is totally unacceptable and we need to speak out against such practices

It is simple, really. Human health and the health of ecosystems are inseparable.

We are working towards a shared vision of the future for health among all the world's people. A vision future in which we develop new ways of working together at global and national level. A vision which has poor people and poor communities at its centre. And a vision which focuses action on the causes and consequences of the health conditions that create and perpetuate poverty.

Health is the core of human development.

More than ever before, there is a global understanding that long-term social, economic, and environmental development would be impossible without healthy families, communities, and countries.

That the AIDS pandemic is threatening sustainable development in Africa only reinforces the reality that health is at the center of sustainable development.

 


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