Honourable Minister, Prof. Chen Zhu, honourable Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Prof. Han Qide, Executive Director, Dr Matlin, distinguished Chairperson, Dr Senanayake, colleagues in public health and the medical sciences, ladies and gentlemen,

I am most pleased to participate in the opening of this 11th Global Forum for Health Research. WHO collaborates closely with the Global Forum and benefits from its work.

Public health depends on research in multiple ways. Some of the greatest strides forward for health have followed research breakthroughs that led to new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics. This is the glamorous research that makes the headlines and attracts the funds. But this, as we know, is not enough given the challenges we face today.

It is not enough when strides forward benefit only the privileged few. It is not enough when diseases and premature death are so closely linked to poverty, and health is expected to reduce this poverty.

It is not enough when health is central to the Millennium Development Goals, which call for greater fairness in the distribution of our enormous collective wealth. It is not enough when trends at the global level are causing gaps in health outcomes to grow even wider.

Equitable access is the theme for this forum. It is a theme at the core of the most ambitious commitment ever made by the international community. Progress in meeting the health-related Millennium Development Goals will not be measured by national averages. It will be measured by how well we reach the poorest and most marginalized populations with essential and sustainable care.

To do so, we need support from health research. If we want health to work as a poverty-reduction strategy, we must reach the poor. This has implications for research on equitable service delivery. If we want health to reduce poverty, we cannot allow the costs of care to drive impoverished households even deeper into poverty. This has implications for research on fair financing and social protection.

These are issues we must address. Thanks to constant progress in biomedical research, medicine has never possessed such a sophisticated arsenal of tools and technologies for curing disease and prolonging life.

Yet each year, more than 10 million young children and pregnant women have their lives cut short by largely preventable causes. Life expectancy can differ by as much as 40 years between wealthy and poor countries. This is not fair.

Research continues to make it possible to provide ever better medical care. But research needs to do much more. I am glad the Global Forum is working as an advocate and catalyst to address the health problems of the poor.

We are all working at a time of unprecedented opportunities and unprecedented challenges.

Health has never before received such attention or enjoyed such wealth. Novel philanthropy is making big money available for health initiatives, including R&D. Public-private partnerships have formed to develop new products, especially for diseases of the poor. Partnerships are delivering drugs, donated by industry, in campaigns aimed at eliminating some of humanity’s oldest diseases.

These are all most welcome trends. But research needs to tell us if all this money, all this flurry of activity is actually having an impact on health outcomes. We need evidence to formulate rational health policies and to reliably monitor results. But above all, research needs to tell us why so many people continue to die from preventable causes.

In matters of health, our world is badly out of balance. Nor will this world become a fair place for health all by itself. We all know the problem. No one questions the close association between income level and health. Globalization creates wealth but has no rules that guarantee fair distribution of this wealth.

I believe there is no<