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United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation Attended by Global Health Division Student Global Health Division student Catherine Wangui Wachira, a former consultant with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), attended the first annual United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation on December 20, 2004. The term “South” refers, collectively, to the developing countries of the world, all of which lie to the south of the vast majority of the world's developed countries. South-South cooperation allows developing countries facing similar economic and social challenges to share and learn from one another's experiences and to pool resources to narrow the health, wealth and other disparities that exist between developing and developed countries. The program for the UN Day for South-South Cooperation reviewed progress made towards achieving the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were set forth by the General Assembly in 2000, and highlighted mechanisms for continued progress towards those goals.
Among the day's speakers was UNDP Associate Administrator Zéphirin Diabré, who told the audience of General Assembly members, Mission representatives, UN staffers and consultants that “in today's increasingly interconnected world where poverty, disease, terrorism or environmental degradation are no respecter of national boundaries, and a threat to some is in effect a threat to all, we are reminded of the need for individuals and nations to work together to find collective solutions to shared problems” and that “as developing countries fulfill their part of the deal, the North needs to honor its commitment to increase aid, open markets, and make available the benefits of new technologies to the South.” The day's keynote speaker was the Honorable Professor Wangari Muta Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, and Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife in Kenya's ninth parliament. Professor Maathai is the founder of the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots effort devoted to environmental conservation and improved quality of life. Professor Maathai explained how the Green Belt Movement stimulates progress towards meeting the MDGs, saying “members of the Green Belt Movement would not be conscious of MDG specifically but we achieve them as we work to meet the needs we more easily identify with.” Additionally, there were presentations on achieving the MDGs that centered around promoting South-South trade and investment to reduce poverty, the role of the private sector in fighting HIV/AIDS, and triangular cooperation (South-South cooperation supported by countries in the North) in food security.
Wachira received a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and an M.B.A. in Strategic Management from the University of Nairobi. She has many years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having managed large strategic clinical drug development programs and overseen product management for Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bayer and Aventis. She has consulted with the UNDP, Bureau for Development Policy; The Futures Group POLICY II; Family Health International; and Catholic Medical Missions Board. Her interests are development planning, national HIV/AIDS responses, and the role of the private sector in human development. –Story by Christy Gordon |
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