Urges Member States to further integrate public health into their national economic and social development strategies; urges Member States and the international community to increase investment, building on existing mechanisms and through partnership, to improve health systems in developing countries and countries with economies in transition with the aim of providing sufficient health workers, infrastructures, management systems and supplies to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015; calls upon Member States and the international community to take action to address shortages of human resources for health by developing, financing and implementing policies, within national development strategies, to improve training and management and effectively govern the recruitment, retention and deployment of health workers; also calls upon Member States and the international community to raise awareness of good public health practices; emphasizes the importance of active international cooperation in the control of infectious diseases; calls for the improvement of the global public health preparedness and response systems; recognizes World Health Assembly resolution 58.5 of 23 May 2005 on strengthening pandemic-influenza preparedness and response, and in this regard calls upon Member States to develop, implement and strengthen their national response plans; calls upon Member States to take all appropriate measures for furthering the purpose and eventual implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005); urges Member States and the international community to promote long-term funding for academic and industrial research as well as for the development of new vaccines and microbicides, diagnostic kits, drugs and treatments to address major pandemics, tropical diseases and other diseases; invites the regional commissions of the Economic and Social Council to cooperate closely with Member States, the private sector and civil society in their capacity-building in public health, as well as in regional cooperation to diminish and eliminate the deleterious impact of major infectious diseases; requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its 61st session a report on the implementation of the present resolution.

Adopted without vote, 58th plenary meeting

4 p.

Issued in GAOR, 60th sess., Suppl. no. 49.