null
Lucia A Keegan  01/23/2007 08:43:11 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
Text:                                                                      
                                                                           
      
UNCLAS        PARIS 00253

SIPDIS
cxparis:
    ACTION: ECON
    INFO:   SCI OECD ENGO SCIO TRDO ESCI FCS POL ORA AMB
            AGR LABO DCM ECNO UNESCO ECSO

DISSEMINATION: ECONOUT /1
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: EMIN:TJWHITE
DRAFTED: SCI:KKATZER
CLEARED: SCI:RDRY, USOECDHEALTH:JHOFF (INFO)

VZCZCFRI633
RR RUEHC RUEHZN RUEHRL RUEHLO RUEHMO RUEHOT
RUEHRO RUEHKO RUEAUSA RUCNDT RUEHGV
DE RUEHFR #0253/01 0221629
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221629Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4363
INFO RUEHZN/EST COLLECTIVE
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 6488
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 6404
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 5713
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 2046
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 8204
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2428
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1099
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2577

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000253 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G, OES, OES/IHA, EUR, EUR/WE 
HHS FOR OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, OFFICE OF GLOBAL HEALTH 
AFFAIRS 
USAID FOR OFFICE OF GLOBAL HEALTH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO EAID AORC PREL FR
SUBJECT: PARIS CONFERENCE ON HEALTH PROTECTION IN 
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; MARCH 15-16, 2007 
 
 
 ¶1.  Action request contained in para 8.    . 
 
¶2. Summary. France will host a high-level international 
conference entitled, "Health Protection in Developing 
Countries: Breaking the Vicious Circle of Disease and 
Poverty," in Paris, March 15-16.  This is an initiative of 
President Chirac, first proposed in St. Petersburg at the 
most recent G-8 summit.  French organizers hope to bring 
together ministers and global health experts from some 50 
countries, as well as representatives from international 
organizations, such as WHO, ILO, the OECD, and the World 
Bank.  The conference will compare the most effective 
approaches to health protection in developing countries and 
propose new partnerships for systems of health protection. 
An overarching conference goal will be to highlight the need 
to partner efforts to battle global proverty with those to 
battle global disease.  End Summary. 
 
 
-------------------------- 
Paris Pushes Health Agenda 
-------------------------- 
 
¶3.  On January 18, Embassy science officers and health 
attache to OECD met with Jean-Christophe Deberre, Director of 
Development Policy at the Foreign Ministry to learn more 
about the upcoming high-level international health 
conference.  Deberre described the conference, a Chirac 
initiative, as a follow on to the G-8 declarations in St. 
Petersburg on health, as well as to the conference held in 
Berlin in December 2005 (see report contained at 
www.shi-conference.de) under German Agency for Technical 
Cooperation, ILO and WHO auspices relating to social health 
protection in developing countries.  Although the Germans 
have played a lead role in developing the topic of the 
importance of social health protection in developing 
countries, France - and in particular President Chirac - 
seeks an even broader global conversation on the topic.  Not 
only is the conference under Chirac's auspices, but he is 
also scheduled personally to summarize the results at the 
conference's conclusion. 
 
------------------------- 
Two days and a communique 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. The conference will bring together experts from 50 
countries, international organizations, including WHO, ILO, 
World Bank, and OECD, as well as ministers from around the 
world.  The first day of the conference will be devoted to 
expert presentations and discussion of the issues related to 
health protection in developing countries.  Four round table 
discussions will address: the impact of health on poverty 
reduction and economic growth; comparative analysis of 
existing approaches to health coverage in developing 
countries; comparative analysis of the different funding 
mechanisms and their sustainability; and proposals for 
intergrating health coverage into existing health systems in 
developing countries. 
 
¶5. The second day's talks are planned at the ministerial 
level.  According to materials provided, ministers and 
directors of international organizations will tackle one of 
the conference objectives, "...to adopt a political agenda 
enabling the international community to assist in the 
progressive implementation of mechanisms for health 
protection in developing countries."  In addition, ministers 
will further refine a consensus communique for presentation 
to President Chirac who will chair the closing session.  (NB. 
Embassy officers asked whether a draft communique would be 
available for comment prior to the conference and were told 
that a draft would be circulated two weeks prior to the 
conference for early comment.) 
 
--------------- 
Expectations... 
--------------- 
 
¶6.  Embassy officers queried Deberre regarding proposed 
conference outcomes.  He commented that the conference is not 
designed to generate specific outcomes, but rather to 
facilitate an international consensus around the need to 
partner efforts to battle global poverty with those to battle 
global disease and highlight the insufficiency of existing 
mechanisms to meet the challenges of social health 
protection.  The hope is that representatives of countries 
and international organizations attending the event will 
critically examine these questions and flesh out the issues. 
 
--------------------------- 
U.S. perspectives solicited 
--------------------------- 
 
¶7.  Deberre is keen to learn U.S. perspectives on the topic 
of the conference, as well as proposed conference modalities. 
 He and his deputy Elodie Montetagaud plan to travel to 
Washington the week of January 22 to meet with officials of 
HHS, USAID, and possibly the Department of State (in addition 
to meeting with representatives of international 
organizations based in Washington, D.C.) to solicit U.S. 
views and expert and high-level attendance at the conference. 
 The scientific committee has prepared a lengthy "concept 
paper" in French, as background for the meeting.  An English 
translation of the paper is expected shortly.  Upon receipt, 
the Embassy will forward it to OES/IHA. 
 
¶8. ACTION REQUESTED: Washington agencies (Department of 
State, HHS, and USAID) should anticipate receiving 
invitations from the Government of France to attend this 
conference.  In light of French presidential support for the 
conference, Embassy would appreciate learning USG approach to 
it as early as possible. 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
STAPLETON