Secretary-General's Forum on
Advancing Global Health in the Face of Crisis

WHO:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Director-General of WHO Dr. Margaret Chan. They will be joined by ministers from Member States, heads of UN agencies, leading experts and representatives from civil society, the private sector, philanthropy and academia.

WHEN:

15 June 2009

WHERE:

United Nations Headquarters, 1st Avenue & 46th Street, New York

WHAT:

Funding and political attention to the health sector have increased rapidly in recent years, and significant gains have been made. Yet much remains to be done: Efforts to ensure coordination and accountability of health interventions have lagged behind the surge in players and resources and the current economic crisis, as well as the food crisis and climate change, have exacerbated the challenges ahead. The Secretary-General has convened this Forum to elevate the global health debate and engage leaders from all sectors – Government ministries, UN agencies, civil society, business, philanthropy and academia -- to build on the momentum and work in intense coordination to maximize the impact of global health interventions on the ground. The event will seek concrete ways forward on key issues. The Secretary-General will present the outcomes in a wrap-up Chairman’s Summary.

Opening (10:00 – 10:30 am)

• The Forum will open with statements by the UN Secretary-General and the Director-General of WHO.

PRESS STAKE-OUT, 10:30 am

• The Secretary-General and the Director-General of WHO will speak briefly to the media outside the Trusteeship Council.

Interactive Panel Discussions
(1) Protecting Vulnerable Populations (10:30 am – 1:00 pm)

• This discussion will focus on the health Millennium Development Goals, especially maternal and newborn health, and will push for progress on MDG 5 aimed at reducing maternal mortality, which remains the Goal that lags furthest behind. The session will also discuss diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poor such as neglected tropical diseases, as well as noncommunicable diseases, which are rising as chief causes of mortality.

• Participants: Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director, UNICEF; Lesego Motsumi, Minister of Health of Botswana; Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA; K. Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India; Sam Zaramba, Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health of Uganda; David Nabarro, Senior UN System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza; Rajeev Venkayya, Director of Global Health Delivery, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Liya Kebede, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and founder of The Liya Kebede Foundation.

(2) Building resilient health systems: strengthening delivery from global to local (3:00 – 4:15 pm)

• This panel will examine success stories in delivering health services to all populations, including in the most remote communities, and how to overcome the financial barriers that exclude the poor from seeking treatment and care.

• Participants: Julio Frenk, Dean of Harvard School of Public Health and Former Health Minister of Mexico; Richard Sezibera, Minister of Health of Rwanda; Ivan Lewis, Minister of the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom; Joy Phumaphi, Vice President, Human Development Network, World Bank; David de Ferranti, President, Results for Development Institute; Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Managing Director, Rockefeller Foundation.

(3) Enhancing coordination and coherence: towards multi-stakeholder strategic partnerships (4:20 – 5:40 pm)

• This session will bring together Member State initiatives and the work of international organizations, civil society and the private sector to maximize the impact of global health interventions.

• Participants: Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, UNAIDS; Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; Ray Chambers, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria; Julian Lob-Levyt, Executive Secretary, GAVI Alliance; Michael Joseph, CEO, Safaricom; Tore Godal, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Norway on Global Health.

Closing Remarks (5:45 – 6:00 pm)

• The UN Secretary-General will present his Chairman’s Summary of the outcome of the Forum.