Looking forward to the Global Health Council conference

Thousands of individuals will gather in Washington, DC, next week to explore new ways of addressing the paramount health needs of the world’s poorest two billion citizens—and to share lessons learned on the front lines of global health.

The Global Health Council is hosting the 34th annual International Conference on Global Health from May 29 to June 1, 2007. This year’s theme is “Partnerships: working together for global health.” More than 30 PATH staff will join our colleagues from around the world to engage in an open and unfettered exchange of ideas and approaches that is so vital to our work.

The Global Health Council is the world's largest membership organization dedicated to saving lives by improving health throughout the world. Its members include health care professionals, nongovernmental organizations, foundations, corporations, government agencies, and academic institutions that work to ensure global health for all. Over the past 34 years, thousands of public health professionals from almost 100 countries have gathered for the Global Health Council’s annual conference.

PATH president Christopher Elias, MD, MPH, is taking part in the opening plenary session entitled, “Not Just Another Buzzword? Public-Private Partnerships in Action.” Together with other players in public-private partnerships, he’ll explore how successful partnerships are defined and sustained, how they evolve, how they overcome the common and not-so-common barriers, and where they fit in the overall toolbox of strategies for improvement of global health.

As a leader in vaccine development and introduction, PATH is convening a panel of experts to discuss the challenges and lessons learned in making vaccines available and affordable where they are needed most. Panelists will describe plans for reaching teens with the new HPV vaccine in Asia and Africa, provide developing-country perspectives on introduction of a Japanese encephalitis vaccine in India, and discuss the challenges inherent in developing a new malaria vaccine.

In addition, PATH staff are participating in panel and roundtable sessions about public-private partnerships, policy, gender-based violence, HPV vaccine introduction, health care waste management, and expansion of the DOTS tuberculosis intervention in Cambodia.

Learn more about PATH’s activities at the conference.

Learn more about PATH’s work in vaccine development and introduction.

Posted May 24, 2007.