Global Health Council Announces Schedule for Last Day of Conference; Final Sessions: DDT, SARS, Leadership for Sustainable Future

5/29/2003

From: Lynnette Johnson Williams of the Global Health Council, 202-439-5681 (cell phone at conference) E-mail: ljohnsonwilliams@globalhealth.org Web site: http://www.globalhealth.org

News Advisory:

SCHEDULE - FRIDAY, MAY 30

Global Health Council Annual Conference Final Sessions: DDT, SARS, Leadership For A Sustainable Future

WHAT: Sessions on DDT, SARS and leadership for a sustainable future close out the final day of the Global Health Council's 30th annual international health conference, "Our Future on Common Ground: Health and the Environment." World health leaders and nearly 2,000 conference participants from more than 60 nations have gathered for the four-day conference, May 27-30, at the Omni-Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St. NW, Washington, DC 20008.

For more information on the schedule of events, visit the Council's Web site at http://www.globalhealth.org/view_top.php3?id=213. Friday highlights include:

10:30 a.m. - Noon Regency Ballroom X-Fire SESSION: Managing the Spray: The Role of DDT in Malaria Control

Although the use of DDT has been banned for several decades in the developed world, it continues to be viewed as a critical weapon in the fight against malaria in developing countries. Presenters in this session share their differing views on the appropriate role of DDT in an overall vector-control strategy, the implications and potential impact of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and prospects for alternative control methods in the future.

Speakers: -- Clive Shiff, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health; -- Jacob Williams, PhD, MPH, Roll Back Malaria Secretariat, World Health Organization; -- Donald Roberts, PhD, Uniformed Services University; -- and Richard Liroff, PhD, World Wildlife Fund

Moderator: Janet Raloff, Science News

1:30 p.m. - 3 p.m. Regency Ballroom PANEL SESSION: SARS Update Given the sobering developments with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) over the past two months, the session provides an update on the current efforts to control and prevent SARS, discussion and awareness-building on the challenges inherent in detecting and controlling the spread of this and other emerging diseases, and the need for further investment in this area on a global level.

Speakers: -- David Heymann, MD, Communicable Diseases Division, World Health Organization; -- Mary Wilson, MD, Harvard School of Public Health; -- and Julie Gerberding, MD, Centers for Disease Control

Moderator: Nils Daulaire, MD, MPH, Global Health Council

3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. Regency Ballroom PLENARY SESSION: The Leadership Imperative: International Cooperation for a Sustainable Future

Moderator and Speaker: -- E. Anne Peterson, MD, Assistant Administrator, USAID Bureau for Global Health

Speakers: -- David Nabarro, MD, Executive Director, WHO's Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments -- Jeffrey Sachs, PhD, Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University

One effect of a continuously globalizing world is to make ever-closer neighbors of us all, highlighting the need for greater international cooperation to address a growing list of issues and concerns that transcend national boundaries. The past decade has witnessed a series of international conferences, treaties and initiatives aimed at addressing health, development, economic and environmental conditions around the world. What effect have these activities had in stimulating action and leadership at the national and multinational level? How do our international leaders measure up in their response to some of the most critical issues of our age?

PANELS: The conference offers more than 40 panel sessions in the following interest areas: Physical Environment and Health: Industrialization and Development; Infectious Disease; Reproductive and Maternal Health; Health Systems Policy and Research; Physical Environment and Health: Underdevelopment; HIV/AIDS; Social Environment and Health: Economics and Governance; and Child/Adolescent Health. (Visit http://www.globalhealth.org/view_top.php3?id=213 for individual panel and plenary descriptions as well as times and locations.)

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The Global Health Council is the world's largest membership alliance dedicated to saving lives by improving health throughout the world. The Council serves and represents thousands of public health professionals from 103 countries on six continents.