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World Health Summit

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ǎThe World Health Summit is the gathering of leaders from academia, science, politics and industry as well as stakeholders of the private sector and civil society. The summit under the patronage of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy was initiated on the occasion of the 300th year anniversary of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and is now being held annually in Berlin. The meeting is presided over by Prof. Detlev Ganten, a medical research scientist and Chairman of the Board of the Charité foundation. It is organized by the M8 Alliance of Academic Health Centers and Medical Universities together with the National Academies, the EU and WHO.

Mission

According to the World Health Summit’s Mission Statement, published in The Lancet in 2009, the conference’s mission is in keeping with the UN Declaration of Human Rights’(1948) acknowledgement of health as a fundamental human right. Since at present more than half of the world’s population is not receiving proper medical care,[1] the organizers of the World Health Summit see their mission in the improvement of healthcare worldwide and the achievement of equitable access to medication and prevention. This mission is seen as threatened by unsolved and newly emerging problems such as: "The demographic shift to an ageing society; climate change and its health consequences that are already being felt; new types of epidemics, such as obesity, mental ill-health, and violence and injury, in developed and developing countries, in addition to the still raging epidemics of HIV, TB, and malaria; the rising costs of health care; and the worldwide economic crisis and its serious threats to the health of populations across the globe."[2] Thus, the conference initiators intend to address these challenges by bringing together stakeholders from research, education, clinical care and many other disciplines to jointly develop strategies to tackle these issues. The outcome of this multi-sectoral summit is intended to serve decision-makers and governments as recommendations for future healthcare challenges. .[3]

Summit Profile

Each year the World Health Summit is being held under a different motto and focuses on different key topics. The forth World Health Summit will be co-presided over by Prof. Micheal Klag, Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and will take place from October 21–24.

Previous Meetings

The first World Health Summit under the motto “The Evolution of Medicine” took place from 14 – 18 October 2009 at the Charité University, Berlin. 700 participants worked on concrete recommendations for dealing with pandemic planning, effective prevention strategies and climate change-related diseases. Prof. Axel Kahn from the Université Paris Descartes, France, held the co-presidency of the first World Health Summit.[[4][5]] The third World Health Summit took place from 23–26 October 2011 under the motto “Today’s Science – Tomorrows Agenda”. The meeting was be co-presided over by Prof. Dr. Steve Wesselingh from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

In 2010, the Berlin World Health Summit was held from 10 – 13 October. The conference focused on the key topics: Translation – Transition – Transformation. In keeping with these topics, solutions facilitating the translation of medical knowledge into interventions that benefit patients across the globe, the new health challenges in a world of constant transition and the transformation of health politics and management to respond to these challenges were discussed. The co-president of the meeting was Prof. Stephen K. Smith, principal of the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London.[[6]]

Criticism

The World Health Summit has been criticized by Thomas Gebauer, director of medico international, as an “elitist club of decision makers”,[7] that ignores both the social factor of global health issues and the notion of health as a human right, but rather serves particular interests. Thus, in 2009, the Frankfurt-based organization medico international intitiated an alternative conference as a form of protest against the World Health Summit.[8] Despite all the criticism of the summit, and in particular of its sponsors - the pharma industry - both sides, the critics and the initiators of the World Health Summit, showed a readiness to engage in a constructive discussion. Prof. Ganten invited the participants of the 2009 alternative conference to attend the World Health Summit 2010 and, thus, to enter into a dialogue.[9]

M8 Alliance

The “M8 Alliance of Academic Health Centers, and Medical Universities” is an academic network of institutions of education and research. It was first officially inaugurated in 2009, on occasion of the first World Health Summit. This international network provides the academic background behind the World Health Summit. According to the "M8 Alliance Profile",[10] the network seeks to improve global health and works with political and economic decision makers and civil society to develop science-based solutions for health challenges worldwide. It was created as a permanent platform for framing future considerations of global medical developments and health challenges.[http://[11]]

Members of the M8 Alliance

The M8 Alliance consists of twelve members. After the second World Health Summit in 2010, Sao Paulo University and the National University of Singapore joined the network. The M8 Alliance currently counts the following twelve members from five continents:[12]

Stern online: Interview with Prof. Dr. Detlev Ganten: "Medizin muss sozial gedacht sein". 08.10.2010.

Stern online: Interview with Prof. Dr. Detlev Ganten: "Gesundheit muss ein persönliches Ziel sein". 18.06.2010. http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/fileadmin/media/press/2010/Sterninterview%20DG%2018062010%20de.pdf]

References

  1. ^ http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/the-summit/summit-profile/
  2. ^ http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/the-summit/summit-profile/mission-statement/#c178
  3. ^ Shaping the future of health care: the Berlin 2009 Evolution of Medicine Summit. The Lancet, Feb.14, 2009.Adli M, Kleinert S, Lafont, A, Kahn A, Ganten D (2009). Lancet 373: 519-520
  4. ^ Charité Berlin, Book of Proccedings 2009: http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/fileadmin/downloads/Dokumente_Download/WHS%202010%20Book%20of%20Proceedings.pdf
  5. ^ World Health Summit Program 2009: The Evolution of Medicine http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/fileadmin/downloads/whsSummitProgram.pdf
  6. ^ World Health Summit 2010, Final Program http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/fileadmin/downloads/Dokumente_Download/WHS%202010%20Final%20Program%20Print_online.pdf
  7. ^ http://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/38559/Alternativkonferenz_zum_World_Health_Summit_Wir_brauchen_keinen_neuen_Club.htm
  8. ^ http://www.medico.de/en/search/?cx=007400307825010633883%3A10wmrhxa_wm&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&q=world+health+summit&sa=Search#947
  9. ^ http://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/38559/Alternativkonferenz_zum_World_Health_Summit_Wir_brauchen_keinen_neuen_Club.htm
  10. ^ http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/m8-alliance/profile/
  11. ^ http://www.worldhealthsummit.org/m8-alliance/profile/
  12. ^ World Health Summit website
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