London - The Indonesian-proposed declaration of Responsible Virus and Benefits Sharing received strong support from the  1st Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Health Ministers' Meeting on the sidelines of the 61st World Health Assembly (WHA) taking place in Geneva, May 19-24, 2008.

The proposal has become a NAM document that will be discussed further at a meeting of the permanent representatives of  NAM member  countries to the UN  in Geneva on June 30, Acep Somantri, first secretary at the Indonesian Permanent Representative Office  in Geneva, said in a press statement received by ANTARA here on Thursday.

"The (NAM health ministers) meeting considers the declaration as a very important document to the developing countries as it was a source of moral strength for them in the fight for a new mechanism for virus and benefits sharing that was more transparent, equal and fairer for them (developing countries)," he said.

Indonesian Health  Minister  Siti Fadilah Supari told the meeting that the cooperation and support from NAM member countries during the negotiations for the new mechanism was an agreement and real cooperation of NAM in strengthening and improving the South-South health agreement, Acep added.

Minister Supari said the 60-year old Global Initiative Surveillance Network (GISN) prioritizing the developed nations and ignoring  the developing nations should be replaced by a new system, he added.

She further said it was now time for the developing countries to improve their cooperation in the field of healthcare eradicate the unfairness and gap in North-South relations.

The Public Communications Center of the Secretariat General of the Indonesian Ministry of  Health and the Indonesian Permanent Representative mission to the UN in Geneva said in the statement that besides the Indonesian-proposed  declaration the NAM health ministers also adopted two other declarations, namely "Migration and Training for Qualified Health Workers" and "Diseases Disproportionately Affecting Developing Countries."

- Source : Antara News Agency, 24 May 2008