'Prioritize funding to disease-ridden, poor countries'

New Delhi, May 20 (IANS) There was a need to prioritize adequate funding support to countries with huge disease burden and poverty, a senior official of India's health ministry said.

For effective global action on the social, economic and environmental determinants of health, adequate funding support to countries with huge disease burden, poverty and scoring low on these determinants must be prioritized and ensured, said C.K. Mishra, additional secretary, Health.

In this context, the work being done to develop a new strategic resource allocation methodology is a welcome step, he said at the plenary session of the 67th world health assembly which concluded in Geneva Monday.

Mishra said addressing climate change is not just an issue of international agreements or economic costs but it is a choice of what kind of world we all want to live in.

In this context, the principle of Common But Differential Responsibilities (CBDR), under the banner of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is an ideal way forward, he added.

The official said that there is a major challenge for the public health community to identify best individual and local strategies as there is lack of coherence globally in terms of clear public health messages about climate aimed at populations in general.