Yesterday in New York, on the sidelines of the 74th United Nations General Assembly, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Emanuela Del Re, attended an event on universal health coverage along with the representatives of the other 193 UN Member States.
The aim of the Meeting, which closed with the adoption of a Political Declaration, is to relaunch political ambition and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage with a view to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal No. 3 (SDG 3).
In her address on behalf of Italy, the Deputy Minister confirmed our Country’s commitment to contribute to achieving SDG 3. “Health must be considered as a global public good,” said Del Re. She went on to underscore how health is the Italian Development Cooperation service’s priority area of action at multilateral level and recalled Prime Minister Conte’s announcement regarding Italy’s contribution to the Global Fund against HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the next three years. She added: “Also at bilateral level, universal health coverage is Italy’s priority action, focused on Less Developed Countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.” Del Re then announced that, at her own initiative, Italy committed to raise awareness at international level on diarrhoea in children, which the World Health Organisation recognises to be the second cause of death among children under 5 in poor Countries. “Italy calls for urgent action to facilitate information and educational campaigns, including possibly establishing a dedicated International Day and requests the allocation of financial resources to defeat this deadly disease through adequate policies,” she said.
