Justine Greening was appointed the United Kingdom’s Secretary for International Development in September 2011 to advance the government’s value-for-money agenda. She spoke with Impact about the U.K.’s global health strategy and how the participation of the private sector is essential to deliver the plan in the post-MDG 2015 era.
Impact: The U.K. government’s global health strategy focuses on three key areas: global health security, international development and trade for better health. Why?
Justine Greening: The “Health is Global” strategy published in 2011 sets out the responsibilities which government departments (beyond the Department of Health) have for delivering health outcomes in the U.K. and internationally. The refreshed strategy shows clear outcomes for research, the management of pandemic flu, health in conflict situations and priorities for improving health in the poorest countries. This is helping departments to invest their efforts in more concrete goals with the greatest impact.
For DFID, this means investing in health programs and research to improve the lives of the very poorest people. For example, we have committed to providing an additional 24 million women access to family planning by 2020, averting 20 million unwanted pregnancies and saving the lives of 42,000 girls and women. And by investing in research and development and countries’ health systems, we are helping the poorest people get access to life-saving medicines.
