Chairman Gordon Brown met with members of the Taskforce on 13 March at Downing Street to discuss Working Group recommendations.

Today, 7 April, is World Health Day - This year, its theme is 'Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies' and will see WHO and its international partners highlight the importance of investing in health infrastructure that can withstand hazards and serve people in immediate need, including those affected by an emergency and those requiring everyday needs such as safe childbirth services and immunisations.

The Taskforce hopes that today will help demonstrate how vital investment in health systems is, particularly at a time when the financial crisis is in danger of derailing the improvements made by poorer countries in their healthcare systems.

The World Bank estimates that, if the current economic crisis persists, between 200,000 and 400,000 more children will die every year - between 1.4 and 3.8 million children before 2015.

Nearly 10 million children under the age of five die every year - most of which would be avoidable and preventable with the delivery of better health services. Half a million women die annually in childbirth and pregnancy from avoidable complications, and 300 million suffer from illness and disability related to childbearing. Stronger health systems, including services for HIV and AIDS, malaria and TB are critical to saving lives. Now, more than ever, money is needed to make rapid progress towards strengthening health systems in the world's poorest countries and ensure basic healthcare services are made available to all - the poor as well as the better off.

Last month, the Taskforce met at 10 Downing Street and highlighted that unless donors and developing countries meet international targets for increasing support in health, the funding gap will be an estimated $30 billion a year by 2015 and the health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be met. Last Thursday, leaders at the G20 Summit promised $100 billion in new loans for poor countries. We welcome this move and urge world leaders to ensure funds are invested urgently in developing country health systems, especially training and employing health workers. If health systems collapse further under the pressures of the economic crisis and poverty increases, nations will not be equipped to build proper infrastructure and this in turn will impact on the world's wealthiest countries as they look to avoid being engulfed by a humanitarian disaster.