HHS Secretary Leads Delegation to the G-8 Health Ministerial Meeting | Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (left), Mikhail Zurabov, Minister of Health for the Russian Federation (center), and Rolf Schwanitz, Parliamentary State Secretary for Germany (right) at the G-8 Meeting of Health Ministers in Moscow, Russian Federation, on April 28, 2006. (Photo copyright Krivobok Ruslan/www.G8RUSSIA.ru.) |
May 1, 2006 – In Moscow, Russia, Secretary Michael O. Leavitt is leading the U.S. delegation to the first-ever formal Group of Eight (G-8) Health Ministerial. Russia holds the Presidency of the G-8 for 2006, and set the theme of "The Fight Against Infectious Diseases" for the meeting, which is a prelude for the G-8 Leaders Summit scheduled for St. Petersburg in July. Among the topics the Ministers discussed were avian and pandemic influenza, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, measles, polio, and responding to the health consequences of natural disasters. In addition to Ministers or senior health officials from the G-8 nations of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection and the Austrian Minister of Health represented the European Union. Ministers and senior health officials from Brazil, the People's Republic of China, India, Mexico, and South Africa also joined part of the session. While at the Ministerial, Secretary Leavitt held a bilateral discussion with Russian Health Minister Mikhail Zurabov and with Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The Secretary also joined Mexican Health Secretary Julio Frenk, M.D., and the new Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement, M.P., for a trilateral discussion to assess progress on the health deliverables of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. Finally, traveling to Moscow City Hall, Secretary Leavitt met with the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov. On the afternoon of April 28, 2006, the health ministers traveled to the Kremlin to meet with Russian First Deputy Premier Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev. On January 1, 2006, for the first time ever, the Russian Federation assumed the G-8 Presidency for 2006. The 32nd G-8 Leaders Summit will take place in St. Petersburg on July 15-17, 2006. The main themes will be energy security, international cooperation on education, and public health and infectious diseases. For the first time, at the G-8 meeting, the G-8 Health Ministers will also convene a Ministerial meeting focused on emerging and re-emerging diseases. For more information:
Last revised: December 26, 2007 |
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