As many of you know, there was a significant gap left in the field with the closing of the GHC. A group of 80+ former members joined together as the Interested Members of the GHC (IMG) to address the gap and to discuss the future of the GHC. The IMG held a Town Hall Meeting on the creation of a renewed global health coalition on Tuesday, August 28th. As a follow-up to the meeting, they have disseminated the PowerPoint presentation shown during the meeting, FAQs, and the final report, “Evaluation of National Council of International Health Activity” (the predecessor to the Global Health Council). Kindly note that the IMG will continue to receive input and meet with key stakeholders and will set a timeline for recommended next steps. Resulting action items and recommendations may begin to formulate by the end of September. To join the IMG listserv to receive weekly updates or to send suggestions and questions, please contact Chanell Hasty at chasty [at] msh [dot] org.
Tag: GHC
Save the Date: Town Hall Meeting on the Future of the Global Health Council: August 28
Please join your colleagues in global health at a Town Hall Meeting on the Future of the Global Health Council (GHC) on Tuesday, August 28 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (EDT).
Who: Interested Members of the Global Health Council
What: Town Hall Meeting on the Future of the Global Health Council
When: Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 1:30 – 3:00 pm EDT
Where: Webinar
You are being invited to this meeting as a former member and/or stakeholder in the GHC.
As many of you know, there was a significant gap left in the field with the closing of the GHC. A group of 80+ former members joined together as the Interested Members of the GHC (IMG) to address the gap and to discuss the future of the GHC.
In tandem, an IMG Steering Committee formed to consider the options for the GHC, including potential viable business models and service offerings. Your strategic input is needed.
The IMG would like to share its work to date and receive your valued feedback on:
- Ensuring that tangible efforts are made toward the future of GHC
- An issues and options paper created by the IMG Steering Committee, Creating a Renewed Global Health Coalition: Issues, Options and a Pathway for Action
- Priorities of the IMG
- Member support for next stage processes
While this meeting is not affiliated with the Global Health Council Board of Directors, it is requested with their knowledge and approval. This event is closed to the press.
Reserve your webinar seat now by registering online.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing information about joining the webinar.
Kindly note that in order to receive the issues and options paper and any other meeting documents, you must register.
Conference Call to Discuss Closing of Global Health Council
Dear IH Section Members,
As some of you may already know, the Global Health Council has recently announced that it will be closing its doors and cancelling its 2012 conference in Washington, DC. The leadership of the IH section has been discussing how best to respond to this news. Below is a message from Peter Freeman, our Advocacy/Policy Committee Chair, which outlines ways in which you can have input in this discussion. Please consider joining the conference call or at least providing him with your feedback. Peter can be reached by e-mail at pffreeman [at] gmail [dot] com.
Hi all –
I spoken with Vina and Malcolm to start discussing the steps APHA is looking to take regarding the close of GHC and the ways in which the association can respond.
Vina informed me that APHA is in the process of a setting up a series of 2 discussions:
- The first discussion will be internally for APHA staff only, to gather their thoughts/ideas on what GHC’s role was in the international health community, what roles make strategic sense for APHA to absolve, and our association’s current capacity (and potential growth trajectory) to take on these roles.
- The second discussion will happen after APHA’s staff-only one, and may include interested representatives from other APHA sections (IH isn’t the only one that’s weighed in on this) as well as representation from GHC. This discussion will invite the IH section leaders; APHA recognizes the importance of everyone’s voice but having too large a group on the call may not be productive.
In light of this second call, Malcolm and I thought it would be a good idea for our section to have our own brainstorming call prior to APHA’s group call. This way, we can make sure our section’s ideas/thoughts/concerns are collected in an organized fashion; we will have these typed up and sent to whomever represents our group on the APHA group call.
Malcolm and I have scheduled this call for Wednesday, May 9th at 1 p.m. EST for 90 minutes. A prior e-mail mentioned a call on Monday, May 7th; Malcolm and I agreed to not hold the call on Monday and instead hold it on Wednesday, May 9th. I have been assured by Vina that the APHA group call will not be happening before this.
The call-in information is:
1-877-393-3856 (U.S. callers)
1-719-867-7624 (toll number and for international callers)
Participant passcode: 373785
If you are planning on attending, please let me know; an RSVP is not required, but it will help me be aware of who to expect come next Wednesday.
If you are unable to make the call, please e-mail me your thoughts/concerns/ideas around this. I have received the feedback that some of you have sent via e-mail already; thank you for sending that and I promise it will be incorporated into notes from this call.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Global Health Vaccines: Shaping Policy to Accelerate R&D (ASTMH/GHC Lecture in Philadelphia, PA)
Featuring the 4th Annual Beth Waters Memorial Lecture
Date: Thursday, December 8, 2011
Time: 12:30-5pm
Location: Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
1201 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA
Franklin Hall 11 & 12
At Global Health Vaccines: Shaping Policy to Accelerate R&D, public and private stakeholders will examine current barriers to vaccine research and development, especially those that disproportionately affect vaccines for use in developing countries. Discussions will focus on regulatory issues, innovative financing and incentives, and partnerships. The event will serve as an opportunity for stakeholders to collaboratively identify common obstacles and propose unified solutions to stimulate vaccine R&D for global health vaccines.
Dr. Peter Hotez, President, ASTMH and Founding Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, will begin the summit by delivering the 4th Annual Beth Waters Memorial Lecture. This will be followed by an interactive panel discussion and breakout groups that will develop policy recommendations surrounding vaccine R&D issues. The recommendations will then be presented to all attendees for discussion.
This event is open to all ASTMH Annual Meeting registrants and Global Health Council members. Please register using the link below.
Lunch will be provided at 12:30pm and the Beth Waters Memorial Lecture will begin promptly at 1:00pm.
To register, click here: http://my.globalhealth.org/ebusiness/events/default.aspx?pid=573
All Kinds of Belated News (Week of September 18-24)
SECTION NEWS
The Fall 2011 Newsletter has been posted! Be sure to check out recent announcements, section updates, links to recent blog entries, and lots of fellowship opportunities!
The Advocacy/Policy Committee would like to invite you to participate in our first Advocacy Day, led in partnership with the Global Health Council. The day, scheduled for Thursday, November 3rd, 2011, immediately following the annual meeting in Washington, D.C., will be an opportunity for us to voice support for a continued focus on international health to our elected officials. With the intense Congressional pressure to cut the budget, our voices can make a real difference. As a participant during this exciting day, you will be provided with training materials on effective advocacy techniques to ensure your message is clearly heard. Even if you do not have advocacy experience, you need not hesitate to sign up because you will be teamed with others. Please consider joining your fellow International Health Section members on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 on Capitol Hill to advocate for a healthy globe. Interested parties should register here. Please note that registration will close on October 14th. Any questions should be directed to Peter Freeman, Advocacy/Policy Committee Chair, at pffreeman@gmail.com or 773.318.4842.
The G+ Vaccines Challenge has been launched! G+, a new online community launched by Gerson Lehrman Group, has partnered with IndieGoGo and StartUp Health to solicit early stage ideas for tackling problems and inefficiencies in vaccine delivery in-the-field, distribution and development. Finalists will have the unique opportunity to present their ideas to a panel of investment, NGO and corporate and life sciences professionals with the influence to advance those ideas towards realization. You can find more information about the challenge here.
APHA NEWS
Dr. Benjamin is currently on a teaching sabbatical at Hunter College in NYC. Alan Baker (former Chief of Staff at APHA) returned to serve as Acting Executive
Director in the interim.
UN HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ON NCDs
- The UN held its first-ever meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. Global health journalist Tom Paulson provided some great coverage of the event on the Humanosphere blog.
- World leaders unanimously adopted the NCD Summit Outcome Document at the General Assembly in New York.
- On the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting in New York, the United States and WHO signed a memorandum of understanding to help developing countries boost capacity to meet the International Health Regulations.
- The cost for the developing world to address NCDs, based on the WHO’s recommendation to increase budgets by 4%, will be $11.4 billion.
POLITICS AND POLICY
Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates appears poised to endorse the adoption of a controversial financial transactions tax (FTT) to be used as a new source of development aid for poor countries.
PROGRAMS
- The multibillion dollar Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria must do a better job managing its grants to partner countries, according to an independent review panel. A seven member panel investigating the Global Fund has recommended that it place greater emphasis on results and improve risk management. In the Center for Global Development blog, William Savedoff is concerned that the new report suggesting changes for the Global Fund will move it away from innovating.
- USAID has announced that it will be giving a $200 million grant to the Public Health Institute to support its global health fellows program.
- Private and public actors have lined up to support Every Woman Every Child and its goal of preventing 33 million unwanted pregnancies.
RESEARCH
Researchers at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Chicago announced that they were able to reduce the level of HIV in infected people through cell-based therapy.
DISEASES AND DISASTERS
- The privacy curtains that separate care spaces in hospitals and clinics are frequently contaminated with potentially dangerous bacteria, according to a U.S. study.
- If today’s momentum and progress against malaria can be sustained, deaths from this infectious disease could be reduced to near-zero, and cases of infection cut by 75 per cent in the next decade, says a recent report by the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership.
- Depression may go hand in hand with a number of other physical health problems, including heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Now the latest evidence suggests that depression may also increase the risk of stroke.
- Polio has spread to China for the first time since 1999 after being imported from Pakistan, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed.
TOTALLY UNRELATED TO ANYTHING: Melinda Gates is now on Twitter!
IH CONNECT 