This November provides decision-makers with two opportunities to make decisions which could make a huge difference to development and global health programmes. The first key moment is the G-20 summit in France (3-4 November) with the FTT high on the agenda. The second event is the 4th High Level Meeting on Aid Effectiveness which will take place in Busan (South Korea) at the end of the month.

Last June, world leaders met in New York at the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS to renew their effort to achieve universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support for HIV by 2015 under the slogan: “Intensifying our efforts to eliminate HIV and AIDS”. However in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo there is still lot to do around those issues. What has been done so far? Does everybody have access to prevention, treatment, care, and support for HIV according to the aim of the Universal Access?

I am a woman with two university degrees who went to a private though free school. My family did not receive means-tested benefits. Had I grown up where I live now, in the Borough of Southwark, London, my privileged start into life would put my life-expectancy up to seven years ahead of those who are at the bottom end of the social scale. Similarly, in Guatemala, the maternal mortality ratio among indigenous women is up to three times higher than for the rest of the population.

While the UN declaration on non-communicable diseases itself couldn’t be more vague when it comes to recognising the particular vulnerabilities of women and young people, other events happening in New York this week have brought some attention to these under-served groups. For all the talk of ‘integration’, bringing together different disease and health issues, and the particular groups most susceptible to them, appears to be a challenge. Those speakers that have done so deserve kudos.

As anybody who’s worked in the field of global health will know, sometimes it’s difficult to see past the seemingly endless institutional layers. It’s just not so easy to “break out of the box”. But that’s exactly what global health governance must do – we need different actors with different interests to come together to [...]

Italian AfGH partners have been hitting the campaign trail to promote Health Heroes, together with a wide coalition of partners. Earlier this month, we held a Health Heroes exhibition at Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica, which opened on 13 July to coincide with a concert by Elton John, a well known and active supporter of [...]

With preparations for the Busan forum intensifying over the coming months, AfGH has launched its most recent report on the meaningful participation of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the health sector. The report is based on case studies carried out in three countries – El Salvador, Mozambique and Nepal – where AfGH assessed the level [...]

Ever wondered what working for a European NGO network is really like? In our “Critical Story of Change”, AfGH reflects on life over the past five years – where the network’s come from to where it is today – highlighting some of the challenges faced along the way.

Fighting stigma and discrimination is crucial if we are to meet our global health targets, according to speakers at the Action for Global Health MDG 6 event on 16 May 2011. Hosted at the 21st session of the African, Caribbean and Pacific and EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU JPA), a packed house gathered to discuss the link between Millennium Development Goal six and strong health systems. French MEP Francois Alfonsi, who hosted the event, introduced the topic by presenting some fast facts on the current situation and what more still needs to be done.

To mark Human Rights Day (10 December), Action for Global Health and ActionAid India have launched a new video which shows how communities of a remote area of Orissa in south-eastern India stand up for their right to health. India is a vast country with diverse culture, traditions and government structures, and its growing population already [...]