Canada 2010: what should global health expect?

摘要

For South Africa in 2010, it is the World Cup. For Canada, it is the G8-on Jan 1, 2010, Canada takes over the G8 presidency. As the predicaments facing the world's leading economies grow ever more complex, Canada's global leadership has never been more keenly needed. Over the next 15 months, Canada has an opportunity to make a decisive impact on global health. Canada could learn a great deal from Japan's example. Japan occupied the G8 presidency in 2008. The country's foreign policy team, together with national health leaders, prepared early. In 2007, Japan's foreign minister signalled his commitment to international health through human security. The government proceeded to create an academic collaboration to propose action on health systems. That proposal fed directly into the G8 meeting itself and led to a post-G8 process that identified key policy areas for priority action: the health workforce, financing, and information. An attempt was made at a collaborative handover with Italy in 2009, but internal Italian political distractions-the personal life of Silvio Burlusconi-made 2009 something of a dead year in G8 history.