In the public interest: health education and water and sanitation for all.

This report shows that developing countries will only achieve healthy and educated populations if their governments take responsibility for providing essential services. Civil society organisations and private companies can make important contributions but they must be properly regulated and integrated into strong public systems and not seen as substitutes for them. Only governments can reach the scale necessary to provide universal access to services that are free or heavily subsidised for poor people and geared to the needs of all citizens -- including women and girls minorities and the very poorest. But while some governments have made great strides too many lack the cash the capacity or the commitment to act. Rich country governments and international agencies such as the World Bank should be crucial partners in supporting public systems but too often they block progress by failing to deliver debt relief and predictable aid that supports public systems. They also hinder development by pushing private sector solutions that do not benefit poor people. The world can certainly afford to act. World leaders have agreed an international set of targets known as the Millennium Development Goals. Oxfam calculates that meeting the MDG targets on health education and water and sanitation would require an extra $47 billion a year. Compare this with annual global military spending of $1 trillion or the $40 billion that the world spends every year on pet food. (excerpt)