Global Development Leader Jeffrey D. Sachs Applauds “Diplomats for Peace”

NORFOLK, VA (06/29/2007)(readMedia)-- International authority on global health and development Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs urged Physicians for Peace supporters and volunteers to “carry the day” in the global battle against deadly disease and ill health in the developing world.

“I’ve had the opportunity, over the past quarter century, to see the effects of ill health and pandemic diseases tear apart societies in poor countries,” said Sachs, addressing attendees at the Physicians for Peace Three Days, One World global health and development conference in Virginia Beach, VA. “The work that Physicians for Peace is doing around the world not only represents the best of what we stand for, but goes right to the core challenges of our time, really the life and death issues, in the most creative and positive way.”

Sachs was a keynote speaker at the Three Days, One World conference, organized by Physicians for Peace to shine a spotlight on issues of global health and development such as deficiencies in maternal and child health, and the virulent threat of infectious diseases in the developing world. The conference included speakers from around the world, speaking directly to health issues facing their own countries.

“The fact that all of you have come from all over the world to talk about the challenges of health in Africa, in Palestine and Israel, in other troubled parts of the world is a great testament to your own commitments,” said Dr. Sachs. “I see us all as colleagues in a tremendous effort, one that has phenomenal promise.”

Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. From 2002 to 2006, he was also Director of the UN Millennium Project and Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed goals to reduce extreme poverty, disease, and hunger by the year 2015. Sachs is also President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty. He is widely considered to be the leading international economic advisor of his generation.

During the conference, Sachs received the inaugural Charles E. Horton Humanitarian Award for Global Health, in honor of the late Physicians for Peace founder, Dr. Charles E. Horton. Horton, an internationally recognized humanitarian, founded Physicians for Peace in 1989. In accepting the award, Sachs praised the dedication of the Physicians for Peace supporters and volunteers assembled. “You are the finest medical doctors, but you are also peacemakers. You are diplomats for the world. I have no doubt that the work you are doing and the people you are inspiring will carry the day.”

ABOUT PHYSICIANS FOR PEACE

Physicians for Peace is an international private voluntary organization that mobilizes healthcare educators to assist developing nations with unmet medical needs and scarce resources. Through effective, hands-on medical education and training, clinical care and donated medical supplies, Physicians for Peace creates long-term, sustainable, replicable, and evidence-based projects to help partner nations build medical capability and capacity to help themselves. Volunteers for the 501©(3) nonprofit organization have conducted medical missions in more than 50 countries.

More information is available at www.physiciansforpeace.org.