Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-04-Speech-4-038"
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"en.20011004.2.4-038"2
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"Mr President, 7000 people died in the wake of terrorist atrocities in New York and Washington and the global response was one of shock and horror, followed by a flurry of diplomatic activity and detailed planning for an adequate response. In Africa, 10 000 people die every day from AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis. Why is there not a similar response? Regrettably, the harsh truth is that the developed world does not place the same value on human life in Africa. It is a terrible indictment on all of us who live in the world's richest countries that this scale of human tragedy continues to occur into the 21st century.
Several years ago malaria seemed close to being eliminated, today it is the most common cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Tuberculosis is the most prevalent disease in the world, and 35 million people are infected with AIDS, with half of all new HIV infections occurring in the 15-24 year-old age group.
I acknowledge that the EU Commission contributed EUR 4.2 billion for health assistance during the 1990s. However, as the rapporteur pointed out, although EUR 700 million were allocated for health in 1998, the amount for 1996-1998 was only 4% of the total EU development budget. This indicates how low down it has been on the list of our political priorities. I hope this will now change with the publication of the new policy framework by the Commission and its proposed programme of action for the years 2001-2006. Its three-prong strategy of better deployment of existing resources, increasing the affordability to people in poorer countries of key drugs, and support for more research is indeed welcome. However, the proposals need to be developed further and underpinned by a greater financial commitment, indicative of a greater political priority.
The best means of achieving this is by taking on board the excellent proposals put forward by the rapporteur, Mr Khanbhai. His call for the EU to devote 10% of our development aid to tackling this problem, his emphasis on preventative action with the 15-24 year-old age group in relation to AIDS, and his proposal for a global fund for infectious diseases and the establishment of an EU research agency should be the cornerstone of any new EU policy in this area."@en1
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