Global Health (Council) Scores Some Successes

The 34th Annual International Conference on Global Health that ended last Friday was inspiring on many fronts. Here are a few highlights:In her acceptance of the Jonathan Mann Award, Dr. Bogaletc Gebre spoke without notes for 15 minutes - her voice cracking but her eyes dry - of how "the subjugation of African women from cradle to grave" can be ended with women's health empowerment, drawing on her experience working to end female genital cutting.The Global Health Council excels in selecting and featuring grassroots leaders from developing countries as award winners, speakers, and attendees at the Conference. This inclusion contributes greatly to the Conference's value in connecting people who care about developing country health problems from North and South, and in bringing important reality-based knowledge to those of us who spend more time on airplanes and air-conditioned offices than in the trenches.Dr. Gebre was joined on the award dias by other developing country health luminaries. They included Mechai Viravaidya from Thailand's Population and Development Association. Mechai's "Condoms and Cabbages" restaurant chain in Bangkok inspired the condoms that accompanied the chocolate treats passed around at the banquet's end. The Excellence in Media Award went to Thomas Lennon and Ruby Yang, the makers of the Oscar award-winning movie The China Aids Media Project, and the Award for Best Practices in Global Health was made to Dorothy Granada from Guatemala. (Learn more about the awards banquet here.)Dr. Tachi Yamada congratulated an ever-expanding crowd of Gates Foundation grantees on major successes in the past year, including GAVI's achievement of higher vaccination rates, the new Advanced Market Commitment for pneumococcal vaccine, and the Institute for One World Health’s home-run on a treatment for visceral leishmaniasis. Dr. Yamada noted that the Foundation must take big risks in the pursuit of big pay-offs, even if it means also making mistakes (which might be why it is re-re-re-re-organizing its staff!) Friday's session on drug-resistant TB drew a crowd to listen to Ken Castro, the CDC's TB Unit director, and others talk about a long-neglected disease that is suddenly in the spotlight. In spite of some audio difficulties with the video-conference that allowed Dr. Castro to participate in spite of the on-going emergency involving the CDC, much was learned about drug-resistant TB - including its widespread presence in the United States. Speakers pointed out that basic TB control must be strengthened everywhere in order to reduce the spread of resistant TB, with particular urgency in AIDS-prevalent locales where TB is tragically undermining the efforts and expenditures of AIDS treatment programs. The session was ably chaired by Joanne Carter of RESULTS, whose organization until recently has been a lone voice in the wilderness fighting TB, and generated much media interest.These are of course in addition to CGD's own contributions to the conference earlier in the week, where Ruth launched a new report on demand forecasting for critical medical technologies and moderated a session on performance-based incentives in health. Other highlights included the unanticipated participation of Ambassador Mark Dybul in the Policy Series session on PEFPAR reauthorization in conjunction with the President's announcement of seeking a doubling of U.S. funding for PEPFAR, and an announcement by the Norwegian Government to launch a "Global Business Plan" this fall to accelerate progress toward MDGs 4& 5 through improving donor coordination with national government health plans. For more details, see coverage by Christine Gorman and others.Reportedly, the meeting set an attendance record for the GHC (and some of the crowded meetings rooms are testament to that), with almost 2000 participants. Despite the crush of people and DC's early-season swelter, the GHC leadership and staff (including many volunteers) maintained their cheerful helpfulness and sense of purpose. The general feeling in the halls - especially in the bustling hotel foyer that serves as living room for Meeting participants - was of progress, great possibilities, and partnerships (the conference theme). With a long way yet to go to achieve the GHC's mission of information and resources that ensure global health equity, the global health community has nonetheless attained its prime.