Gro Harlem Brundtland

“You cannot achieve environmental security and human development without addressing the basic issues of health and nutrition.”

“Osteoporosis, as the third threat, is particularly attributable to women's physiology.”

“Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in women.”

“Let me first say that I don't think the millennium target of cutting global poverty in half is an impossible or abstract target. I think it is a real and achievable goal.”

“During my nearly five years as director-general of WHO, high-level policymakers have increasingly recognized that health is central to sustainable development.”

“The dual scourge of hunger and malnutrition will be truly vanquished not only when granaries are full, but also when people's basic health needs are met and women are given their rightful role in societies.”

“An important lever for sustained action in tackling poverty and reducing hunger is money.”

“Such lifestyle factors such as cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, little physical activity and low dietary calcium intake are risk factors for osteoporosis as well as for many other non-communicable diseases.”

“I have seen this happen in recent years with regard to pharmaceuticals and vaccines, where, working together, we are improving access to medicines and vaccines for infectious diseases in the poorest countries.”

“When public and private sectors combine intellectual and other resources, more can be achieved.”

“The burden of disease falls on the poor.”

“That the AIDS pandemic is threatening sustainable development in Africa only reinforces the reality that health is at the center of sustainable development.”

“More than ever before, there is a global understanding that long-term social, economic, and environmental development would be impossible without healthy families, communities, and countries.”

“A safe and nutritionally adequate diet is a basic individual right and an essential condition for sustainable development, especially in developing countries.”

“This is a historic moment in global public health, demonstrating the international will to tackle a threat to health head on.”

“Although approximately 80% of osteoporosis sufferers are women, as the longevity of the male population increases, the disease will assume increasing importance in men.”

“Investing in health will produce enormous benefits.”