15by2015

15by2015 is a campaign designed to encourage donor organizations to allocate 15% of their vertical disease-oriented project funding towards sustainable comprehensive primary health care that is accessible and affordable for all by the year 2015 [What is 15by2015? http://15by2015.org/] .

15by2015 believes that because many donors focus on single diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, basic health services are underfunded and consequently the death rate for common conditions such as malnutrition, diarrhea and respiratory tract infections remains high. [“15by2015”: A Campaign to Strengthen Primary Health Care Around the World (2008). Editorial in British Medical Journal ] [De Maeseneer J, van Weel C, Egilman D, Mfenyana K, Kaufman A, Sewankambo N, Flinkenflogel M. Editorial: Funding for primary health care in developing countries: Money from disease specific projects could be used to strengthen primary care. British Medical Journal, 2008;336:518-519] 15by2015 supports the idea that strengthening primary health care (the horizontal approach) rather than strengthening selective disease-oriented projects (the vertical approach) will expand access to permanent health care facilities and increase quality and cost-effectiveness of local health care throughout the world. [De Maeseneer, Jan; van Weel, Chris; Egilman, David; Mfenyana, Khaya; Kaufman, Arthur; Sewankambo, Nelson (2008). Strengthening primary care: addressing the disparity between vertical and horizontal investment. British Journal of General Practice, Vol 58 (546): 3-4] [Hall, John J; Taylor, Richard. Health for all beyond 2000: the demise of the Alma-Ata Declaration and primary health care in developing countries(2003). Medical Journal of Australia, Vol 178(6)] The United Nations is currently seeking to advocate primary healthcare to oppose the increasing problem of health inequality [Elliot, Larry and Patrick Wintour. (2008) Brown flies to UN to launch drive for 1m health workers. Published in the Guardian on September 25, 2008 ] and many people are trying to advocate for primary healthcare by way of 15by2015 [Lawrence Grouse (2008). Physicians for Sale: How Medical Professional Organizations Exploit Their Members. Medscape Journal of Medinicne. Vol 10(7). Pg: 169]

The target date of 2015 was chosen in order to coincide with the target date of the Eight Millennium Development Goals, formulated by the United Nations to improve quality of life and reduce poverty. 15by2015.org was launched in January of 2008 in conjunction with the publication of “Strengthening Primary Care: Addressing the Disparity between Vertical and Horizontal Investment” in the British Journal of General Practice. [http://www.15by2015.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/editorial.pdf] 15by2015.org aims to provide updated news and resources concerning the campaign. It also serves as a location for interested parties to participate in this campaign by signing the petition at http://15by2015.org/index.php/petition/. This petition reached 1000 signatures on August 21st, 2008.

15by2015 was founded by several professors working in primary health care around the world and continues to be supported by many organizations: the World Organisation for Family Doctors (Wonca), Global Health through Education Training and Services (GHETS), [ [http://www.ghets.org/index.php/2008/07/22/15by2015-receives-enthusiastic-support/] ] , [http://www.the-networktufh.org/] European Forums for Primary Care (EFPC) [http://www.euprimarycare.org/ ] , Primafamed [http://www.primafamed.ugent.be/15by2015.html] , Doctors for Global Health (DGH) and Health Alliance International (HAI). 15by2015 is managed by a team of campaigners in the United States, Belgium, Uganda and South Africa. They review all comments posted to the web page, review and submit emails and employ campaigning techniques which include follow-up emails, petitions, letters to local senators, and student activity organizations. 15by2015 is also available to the general public on MySpace (http://myspace.com/15by2015) and Facebook, as a group entitled "15by2015."

References

External links

* [http://www.15by2015.org/ Official Website]