Check against delivery.

Panellists, ladies and gentlemen,

Let me begin by congratulating the 46664 Arctic Campaign and the Nelson Mandela Foundation on an excellent concert last night. I enjoyed it very much. Music and art have a unique power, and could hardly be put to better use than to raise public awareness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its disastrous consequences.

This is a milestone year. 2005 is the year when world leaders have to show that they meant it five years ago when they pledged to do what it takes to reach the Millennium Development Goals. We have ten years to go. Ten years to deliver.

Four of the Millennium Development Goals are directly health-related. The others indirectly. Health must therefore be at the centre of our efforts. What will it take? We need both more financial resources and better systems of delivery.

On the resource side, the breakthrough yesterday at the G-8 meeting on writing off multilateral debt for the poorest and most heavily indebted countries will help. This will free resources for countries to use on health. But that is not enough. We also need more aid, for Africa and for health, for fighting HIV/AIDS and for fighting childhood diseases. As we acknowledge what has been accomplished, we have to push for more. Because what it takes is more. Much more. More from us, and more from the developing countries. If we are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, we all have to deliver.

We know that the situation is grave, particularly in Africa. Basic health care – one of the most fundamental of rights – is beyond the reach of millions of people in poor countries. This is a disaster for them, for their communities and for their countries.

Health is a complicated issue – or rather, a large number of complicated issues. Our former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, who is present here today, once said that “Everything is connected to everything else .” She was not speaking specifically about health, I think – but she could have been. Because when you address health, you also have to address “everything else”.

We have to look at the situation holistically, and approach the issue horizontally. Isolated vertical disease-specific approaches undermine a holistic approach and are not sustainable in the long term. This is why the Norwegian approach to global health is system-wide. This approach includes health systems and health personnel, HIV/AIDS, with a focus on feminisation, gender, sexual and reproductive health, maternal, infant and child health, and young people in general. All of these areas are interlinked. If we are to have any chance of combating these problems, we have to meet them head on – strategically and systematically.

If vertical initiatives are to be truly successful, they need to be firmly anchored in a national health sector framework. Health initiatives in a wide range of arenas, GAVI, the Global Fund, UNAIDS, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, IPM, and IAVI, are all crucial to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. And we do provide up to NOK 2 billion to these joint efforts annually. But there is one area on which Norway has decided to focus particular attention: the human resource crisis in the health sector.

Today there is a critical shortage of health personnel in the developing world, caused partly by globalisation (the brain drain to richer countries due to better salaries and working conditions) and partly by AIDS. Take Malawi as an example: one out of four nurses in Malawi dies of AIDS. Health workers move north in droves. Today there are more Malawian doctors in Manchester, England, than there are in the entire country of Malawi.

As donors, we must help the countries in the South keep their skilled workers. We must help educate more health professionals, and we must assist countries in offering them better conditions. Health personnel are the cornerstone of health interventions, in services for adults, young people and children. Individual initiatives will all fail unless we ensure that the foundation for success is in place. It is no use having a vaccine in the medicine cabinet unless there is a nurse to administer it. If we are to reach our ambitious goal by 2015, we need a large, fully equipped army in white coats to help us.

The Mandela Foundation and the 46664 Campaign is doing an excellent job in raising awareness of HIV and AIDS. Others present here today are doing similar jobs in fighting child mortality. Now we have to do our part in ensuring delivery. I hope 46664 Arctic will show that we can and we will save lives. Because it is truly possible. On behalf of the Norwegian government: Welcome!