World Health Summit: New Impetus for Health Care Systems

World Health Summit: new impetus for health care systems Berlin, 6 October 2009. Germany is arguing about the health insurance fund and other reforms to the health care system. The USA has the most expensive health care system in the world and yet around 50 million Americans have no health insurance whatsoever. In emerging and developing countries, large parts of the population have no access to the health care systems. Health and health systems have a high priority in all countries, but often the results are not satisfactory and there is still room for improvement. At the World Health Summit, which kicks off on 14 October in Berlin, more than 600 leading political decision-makers, members of the scientific community and representatives of industry and civil society from all over the world will meet to discuss the global health care challenges. The topics of discussions include: which health care systems have proved to be particularly effective and why? Can successful approaches and effective solutions be transferred to other countries? “First the health insurance funds cut down on costs, then the hospitals, GP’s and other physicians, and lastly the individual”, Professor Detlev Ganten, President of the World Health Summit, explains. “And yet health is our most important asset. And good health is also a basic human right”, Professor Ganten said. “To achieve this goal, all the stakeholders have to cooperate very closely.” Numerous experts will attend the summit, including Joseph Antos from the American Enterprise Institute. He will hold an address on the reform of the American health care system: competition or control? Can we curb the rising costs? Is a deep recession the right time to attempt a 3-billion- dollar reform? Alan Downey, Global CEO of KPMG Healthcare Practice, will weigh up the pros and cons of the Australian health care system, generally considered to be a role model. What conclusions can be drawn for other countries? Joel Breman, National Institutes of Health, will examine the subject of sub-Saharan Africa in his presentation. Infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are a grave problem in this region: 60 % of those affected across the world live here. What measures have to be taken in order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and to protect the individual’s health? Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria will speak about recent progress in the fight against infectious diseases and about an innovative financing concept. Paul Sommerfeld, Chair of TB Alert, a leading NGO in the area of tuberculosis, will report on the activities of NGO’s in the struggle against tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS. Fighting infectious diseases is not just the job of the medical community; rather, it is a global challenge which will depend on the support of civil society more than ever in the future. The required intervention strategies (Disease Control Priorities Project – DCPP) in low and medium income countries will be the subject of the talk by Anne Mills, University of London and Mark Miller from the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, USA. Contact for the press Ulrike Gregor I Ketchum GmbH I T +49 30 726 13 97 90 I E [email protected] World Health Summit www.worldhealthsummit.de The 1st World Health Summit is held under the title “The Evolution of Medicine” and will take place on 14 – 18 October in Berlin, Germany. The summit will be a forum to bring together an array of high-ranking members of government, industry and civil society as well as eminent researchers and scientists. They will address and discuss urgent global health related issues. The initiators of the World Health Summit want to start the necessary impetus for coordinated acting on health- related consequences of climate change, international pandemic strategies, prevention, infectious diseases and the impact of the financial crisis on global health and health care. The World Health Summit will establish a platform which will set a broad agenda for future medical research and for structures of health care for all. Speakers are among others are, e.g. Health and Research Ministers from Germany, France and Poland, representatives of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and of the World Health Organization, CEO’s of the pharmaceutical industry and medical technology, several Nobel laureates as well as presidents of leading national and international scientific institutions. The Summit 2009 will be the first in a series of annual summits and is under the patronage of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy. .

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