Global Health The Focus At Annual UN Event

Global Health The Focus As Annual UN Event For Civil Society Kicks Off

New York, Aug 30 2010 9:10AM

Hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have gathered in the Australian city of Melbourne for today’s start of the annual United Nations conference aimed at boosting the participation of civil society, with global health the focus of this year’s event.

The 63rd UN Department of Public Information ("http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/index.asp"DPI)/NGO Conference is also designed to galvanize support for achieving the Millennium Development Goals ("http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/"MDGs), the series of internationally agreed social and economic targets which world leaders have pledged to try to attain by 2015.

The MDGs include several health targets, such as reducing the mortality rate for children under the age of five by two thirds; slashing maternal mortality rates; achieving universal access to reproductive health; and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Organizers of the conference in Melbourne say they hope to attract a large number of NGOs from across the Asia-Pacific region, and dozens of workshops will be staged during the three-day event to promote dialogue on key health issues.

General Assembly President Ali Treki, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS ("http://www.unaids.org/en/default.asp"UNAIDS) Executive Director Michel Sidibé and Kiyo Akasaka, the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, will be among the main speakers at the event.

This is only the third time the annual conference has been held outside UN Headquarters in New York. Last year’s event was staged in Mexico City.

ENDS