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<div><strong><font face="Arial"><font size="2">P<span>RESS RELEASE</span></font></font></strong><a name="11e25ddb7165e2df_OLE_LINK4"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><strong><span>: a</span>uthor <span>issues</span> urgent call to action on global health</strong></span></a><img alt="" hspace="0" align="right" border="0"></div>

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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Théodore MacDonald's latest book </span></span><em>Removing the Barriers to Global Health Equity</em> is released this week by Radcliffe Publishing.</span></span></span></p>

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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>The book presents an urgent call to bolster international organisations and cooperation in healthcare - <span>with</span> searing findings on the</span> failures of neoliberal policies - that<span><font color="#0000ff"> </font>is</span> particularly timely in light of the current global financial crisis.</span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></span></span></span></span></span> </p><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>
<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>The author's</span> shocking findings demonstrate how profitable it has become for corporate interests to undermine the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights,<span> this week celebrating its 60th anniversary.</span> </span></span></span></span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Making the UN and its health agencies work effectively can no longer be dismissed as an academic issue, argues MacDonald, but is crucial to the health and welfare of every human being<span>,</span> irrespective of nationality, wealth or status<span>,</span> in an interconnected and interdependent world. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></span></span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><em>Removing the Barriers to Global Health Equity</em></span></span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> indicates steps which can be taken to avert disaster<span>. These will</span> involve a much higher level of international cooperation than <span>the world has</span> known before<span>, but have also taken on an even greater urgency. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>The book d</span>raw<span>s</span> not only on <span>MacDonald's</span> experience as a medical practitioner in some of the world's poorest counties, but also on meticulously critical analysis of the written record and sharply probing interviews</span><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">with key figures in UN agencies<span>.</span><span> It</span></span></span></span></span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> completes a mammoth project<span> presenting a</span></span></span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> thoroughly researched and <span>often </span>damning exposé of serious but remediable defects in the structure and administration of the <span>UN</span> <span>across six books, beginning</span> with </span></span><span><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Third World</span></i></span><span><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> Health: hostage to </span></i></span><span><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">First World</span></i></span><span><i><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> wealth </span></i></span><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">(Radcliffe Publishing, 2005). </span></span></p>

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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span>The book will be officially launched at King's College Medical School, London on 21 January. Further details will be announced nearer the launch.</span></span></span></p>

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<p style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><span><strong><span>Théodore H MacDonald</span></strong><span> is Professor Emeritus and Member of the Research Institute for Human Rights and Social Justice at London Metropolitan University. He is a consultant for the World Health Organization, International Development Agency and various non-governmental organizations in developing countries. He was formerly Director of Postgraduate Studies in Health <span><font color="#0000ff"><font color="#000000">at</font> </font></span>Brunel University. </span></span></span></span></p>
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