[afro-nets] Geneva Health Forum 2012: Your input counts!

["Claudio Schuftan" <cschuftan@phmovement.org>]

General info: www.genevahealthforum.org

Your Opinion Counts<http://questio.hcuge.ch/ghf/ghfthemes2012/questionnaire.htm>!
Geneva Health Forum, 18-20 April 2012

Dear Colleague,

Geneva Health Forum is in full preparation for its 2012 edition. As part of the Geneva Health Forum community, we depend on your vital input to ensure that we are - more than ever - staying in touch with the most pressing issues at the frontlines of health. In addition, we have a new conference format that will help us spotlight the issues and collectively work to ensure that the frontlines are heard. More on that soon…

In the meantime, we have identified four potential thematic axes for the next Geneva Health Forum, which you will find in brief here below. We ask that you read the text below, and go to a very brief questionnaire to rank the importance of these four themes and to give your suggestions on what must be addressed at the GHF 2012.

The questionnaire should take *just one minute* of your time! Click here<http://questio.hcuge.ch/ghf/ghfthemes2012/questionnaire.htm>when you are ready or access the questionnaire below.

*Urbanization and access to health

*Today, over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and the numbers are rapidly rising. As the process of urbanization is often rapid and uncontrolled, the fulfillment of the health needs of the people living in cities is a major challenge. The risk of spread of infectious diseases in areas with high population density and the dissemination of unhealthy lifestyles associated with non-communicable diseases are important dimensions of urbanization. At the same time, urban health inequities are the most prominent threats to access to health, particularly for vulnerable populations including women and children, migrant workers, and refugees. Urban Health means therefore putting the needs of people and communities at the heart of the urban planning process to ensure better access to health.

*Gender and Global Access to Health*

This thematic axis will challenge assumptions related to gender and sex differences in access to health at socio-economic, political, health systems, clinical, and human resources levels. Gender clearly has an effect on health status, how services are provided and used, health-seeking behaviours and risk factors, to name but a few. In addition, addressing gender health inequities are essential to achieving all the Millennium Development Goals, and are not limited to the sole issues of maternal mortality and HIV. In short, taking on the ‘gender lens’ can bring insight into how global access to health can be improved in a more sustainable manner. Women, men, and children are at the heart of this thematic axis and the social determinants that affect whether they will enjoy their right to health, keeping in sight the consequences for societies if they do not. Finally, women will be spotlighted in their role as innovators and agents of change.

*Chronicity and Access*

Chronic conditions pose major challenges to health systems in both high and low-income countries as they require long-term, ongoing, and often expensive management. Chronicity affects not only the individual who lives with a disease, but also the individual’s social networks and ability to enjoy a productive live. With ageing populations, chronicity has become a major challenge for healthcare systems in both high and low income countries, with a clear role played by the social and economic inequities and determinants in the genesis of many chronic ailments. Exploring the concept of chronicity provides an opportunity to critique current models of healthcare delivery, the division of power between patients and healthcare providers and the overall functions future health systems should adopt to improve access for people with chronic conditions.

*Empowerment and self-reliance*

Empowerment and self-reliance principles are key elements of health and human development. In many parts of the world, individuals and communities are increasingly willing and able to take a more active role in their health-seeking behaviours and challenge how health providers and health systems respond to their needs and expectations – and this in a context of health disparities, increasing burden of chronic conditions, and flourishing access to information. This thematic axis aims to bring to the fore how empowerment and self-reliance can be harnessed, defining what is important, appropriate, and affordable to local users, mobilizing the appropriate skills and resources.

We thank you for your input (you can access the questionnaire <http://questio.hcuge.ch/ghf/ghfthemes2012/questionnaire.htm>also from here) and look forward to working with you on this next edition of the Geneva Health Forum.

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Slama Slim 
mailto:Slim.Slama@hcuge.ch