Press dossier
Presenting ISGlobal-Barcelona, whose aim is to become an international reference centre
ISGlobal-Barcelona: the Global Health Institute designed to fight the diseases that affect the most disadvantaged populations
”la Caixa”, the Government of Catalonia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Hospital Clínic and the University of Barcelona are promoting its creation
• The goal of the Barcelona Global Health Institute will be to improve the health of the more vulnerable populations and break the vicious circle of disease and poverty they are trapped in. It will tackle these problems with an innovatory approach through four spheres of action: research, ideas laboratory, training and advisory services.
• HRH Infanta Cristina, director of the Fundació ”la Caixa” International Department, will be president of ISGlobal-Barcelona. Dr Pedro Alonso, current director of the Barcelona International Health Research Centre (CRESIB-Hospital Clínic de Barcelona- University of Barcelona), will be the director.
• As active participants, ISGlobal-Barcelona will have the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Inbursa Foundation (Mexico), as well as distinguished figures such as Javier Solana, former high representative for the common foreign and security policy of the European Union, and Graça Machel, winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 1998.
• ISGlobal-Barcelona will have its headquarters at Palau Macaya, a symbol of Modernisme and cultural centre of Fundació ”la Caixa” until CaixaForum Barcelona was created in 2003.
Barcelona, 26 February 2010. - The president of the Catalan Government, José Montilla; the secretary of state for cooperation, Soraya Rodríguez; the president of ”la Caixa” and Fundació ”la Caixa”, Isidre Fainé; the director of the Fundació ”la Caixa” International Department, HRH Infanta Cristina; the director of the Barcelona International Health Research Centre (CRESIB- Hospital Clínic de Barcelona-University of Barcelona), Pedro Alonso; and the rector of the University of Barcelona, Dídac Ramírez have this morning presided the international launch of the Global Health Institute . The aim of the initiative is to improve global health through the generation and transfer of quality knowledge in the field, with special emphasis on the more disadvantaged populations.
Also attending the event were the councillor for health, Marina Geli, the director general of Fundació ”la Caixa”, Jaume Lanaspa, and Javier Solana, former high representative for the common foreign and security policy of the European Union.
The Global Health Institute is the product of cooperation between public and private institutions, as can be seen from the composition of the Board, where administrations, foundations and civil society are represented: Fundació ”la Caixa”, the Catalan Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Hospital Clínic and the University of Barcelona.
As active participants, ISGlobal-Barcelona will have the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Inbursa Foundation (Mexico), as well as distinguished figures such as Javier Solana, former high representative for the common foreign and security policy of the European Union, and Graça Machel, winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 1998.
The Global Health Institute will turn the spotlight on the pathologies that have the greatest impact on the world and which, in this era of globalisation, affect both developing and industrialised countries.
In 2000, the UN set among the Millennium Development Goals, including three directly related to global health: a reduction of infant mortality, improvements in health and the struggle against HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases that hamper the development of the poorer countries.
In harmony with those goals, the new Institute aims to become an international reference point in research into these diseases. It has been created for the purpose of improving the health of the more vulnerable populations in a global context and thus breaking the vicious circle of disease and poverty they are trapped in.
ISGlobal-Barcelona: a response to the present challenges of world health
The Global Health Institute will fight the forgotten diseases, in other words the ones that particularly affect the poorer countries and which, owing to the impact of globalisation and migratory flows, eventually affect the whole world. The new centre will tackle these problems with an innovatory approach through four spheres of action: research, ideas laboratory, training and advisory services.
The research will be done on a network with other international reference centres. It will focus on biomedicine with the aim of studying the major challenges of global health, especially the ones related to poverty and underdevelopment, and providing solutions. That task will be carried out from the Barcelona International Health Research Centre (CRESIB), promoted by the Catalan Government, the Hospital Clínic and the University of Barcelona.
Another of the goals of ISGlobal-Barcelona will be to set up an ideas laboratory . This will provide rigorous independent analysis and prediction from the generation, assessment and dissemination of ideas, the kind that will contribute to the debate in the field of global health and provide important information for political, technical and managerial staff in both developed and developing countries.
Promoting and spreading knowledge in the country and abroad is the third great priority of the new centre. That means leading and coordinating training in global health, with the University of Barcelona as a framework, and in association with other academic and scientific centres in Spain, Europe and the rest of the world. The training will be designed for researchers and professionals around the world interested in the field of health, but especially those from the most disadvantaged countries. The emphasis will be on promoting knowledge transfer and creating opportunities in the local sphere.
The project also includes the development of activities in the advisory services field, a key element in the process of strengthening and consolidating the centre. It will be supplying innovatory interdisciplinary advisory services for all those working in the field of global health and promoting suitable policies and practices to achieve the necessary improvements.
Palau Macaya, a jewel of Modernisme , headquarters of ISGlobal- Barcelona
The Global Health Institute will have its official headquarters at Palau Macaya, a jewel of Modernisme, built in 1898 by the Catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch on a commission from the industrialist Romà Macaya Gibert. Located in Passeig de Sant Joan, Casa Macaya has been closely linked with ”la Caixa” since 1979. A Modernista symbol of the city of Barcelona, Palau Macaya was the cultural headquarters of Fundació ”la Caixa” until CaixaForum Barcelona was created in 2003.
The creation of ISGlobal-Barcelona also strengthens ”la Caixa”’s commitment to research. Since 1995, with the Catalan Government Department of Health, Fundació ”la Caixa” has been supporting IrsiCaixa , a reference laboratory in research into AIDS worldwide. Moreover, Fundació ”la Caixa” works with other reference institutions in the field of research: the National Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC), directed by Dr Valentí Fuster; the Institute of Oncology at the Hospital Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona, focusing on the struggle against cancer; and the Wider-Barcelona Centre, engaged in endoscopic research and surgery. Recently ”la Caixa” Social and Cultural Outreach Projects has fostered the creation of RecerCaixa , a joint programme for the promotion of research in Catalan public universities. Along the same lines, ”la Caixa” Social and Cultural Outreach Projects awards 40 biomedical research grants every year at the four leading centres in the field in Spain (Genomic Regulation Centre, Biomedical Research Institute, National Biomedicine Centre and National Oncological Research Centre).
For more information: Sònia Oquendo. 93 404 60 56 / 676 06 36 17 [email protected] Jesús N. Arroyo. 93 404 61 31/ 629 79 12 96 [email protected] http://www.lacaixa.es/obrasocial
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COMPLEMENTARY BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
HRH INFANTA CRISTINA HRH Infanta Cristina joined Fundació ”la Caixa” in 1993. In 1997 she was appointed director of the International Cooperation Programme and eight years later director of Fundació ”la Caixa” Social Department in recognition of her work over those twelve years. She is now director of the International Department, a sphere in which she has promoted a large number of socioeconomic, training and humanitarian action development projects in low income countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. An outstanding event was the creation in Spain of ”la Caixa” Business Alliance-GAVI to combat infant mortality.
PEDRO ALONSO Pedro L. Alonso is founder and co-director of the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM, Mozambique). In 2008 he received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation for the struggle against malaria. Since 2006 he has been director del Barcelona International Health Research Centre (CRESIB). One of the most distinguished researchers and epidemiologists in the world, his latest distinction is the 2009 UNICEF International Committee Prize. He is also professor of public health at the University of Barcelona and head of the Tropical Medicine and International Health Service at the Hospital Clínic.
JAVIER SOLANA Javier Solana, a physicist by training, is one of the most renowned Spanish politicians and diplomats of the last few decades. He was foreign minister (1992-1995), minister of education (1988-1992), of culture (1982-1988), government spokesman (1985-1988), secretary general of NATO (1995-1999), commander in chief of EUFOR (1999-2009) and high representative for the common foreign and security policy of the European Union (1999-2009), which made him the visible face of European Union diplomacy. He has recently joined the board of Fundació ”la Caixa”.
GRAÇA MACHEL Graça Machel is a politician and social activist who works with children in Mozambique. When her country won independence in 1975 she was appointed minister of education and culture, a post she held until 1989. During her term of office she managed to raise the number of boys and girls receiving schooling from 40 to 80%. In 1994 she was appointed president of the United Nations Study Committee on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children. In 1998 she received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, with Fatiha Boudiaf, Rigoberta Menchú, Fatana Ishaq Gailani, Somaly Mam, Emma Bonino and Olayinka Koso-Thomas, for their work defending the dignity of women. On 23 April 2008 she was invested doctor honoris causa by the University of Barcelona.
BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION The headquarters of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is in the city of Seattle. It was created in January 2000 through the fusion of the Gates Learning Foundation and the William H. Gates Foundation. The directors are the father of the creator of Microsoft, William H. Gates, and Patty Stonesifer. In May 2006 it received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation. In recent years it has invested over 10,000 million dollars in charity work and non-profit projects and has made major contributions to the struggle against diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It is the biggest private foundation in the world in terms of budgetary provision.
CARSO - INBURSA FOUNDATION The origins of the Carso Foundation go back to 1986, when it was created by the Mexican businessman Carlos Slim. Its purpose is to promote non-profit making projects in education, health, justice and personal and collective development through the supply of human resources, providing Mexican society and other spheres of influence in Latin America with the tools required to achieve professional and social excellence. Within the foundation is the Carlos Slim Health Institute (CARSO), engaged in promoting health as an essential part of human wellbeing .
NELSON MANDELA CHILDREN’S FUND
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund was founded on 19 August 1999. Its work focuses on the development of a living legacy that captures the vision, values and principles of Nelson Mandela. Its main field of activity is Africa, where it promotes action programmes devoted to children and health, as well as projects related to the protection of minors in legal processes, support for refugees and health rehabilitation. One of the latest outstanding projects is the foundation of a children’s hospital in South Africa. In 1992 Nelson Mandela received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation and one year later, in 1993, won the Nobel Peace Prize.