Huffington Post: The “Celebrity Couples” of Global Health and Development
Leith Greenslade, co-chair of child health at the MDG Health Alliance

“Sanitation and nutrition, contraception and newborn survival, girls’ education and child survival, infrastructure and maternal survival, women’s incomes and violence — these are just some of the most powerful relationships in global health and development today. Odd couples, you might think. … So, if we know that we can accelerate achievement of health goals for women and children by investing in toilets, contraception, education, roads, electricity, water, and women’s incomes, why don’t we see more partnerships beyond the health sector? Why do single disease (e.g. AIDS) and single intervention (e.g. vaccines) investments still proliferate? Why are we not building health systems that harness the power of these cross-sector relationships? … The real question is: Can the U.N., governments, non-governmental organizations, and corporations achieve the unprecedented levels of collaboration that are required to develop integrated policies, products, and services, and, ultimately, finance not just single disease or single interventions but programs that combine the power couples of global health and development for maximum impact?…” (10/2).