Faculty & Staff

October 24 - 26

Why this conference? Why here, why now, and how can you participate? Alastair Ager, executive director of the School's Global Health Initiative, offers some answers about the conference, which the School is co-convening with the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the Association of Schools of Public Health.

1. What's unusual about this global health conference, as opposed to others held in the past?
   The very strong southern representation (over 30 countries) makes it genuinely global in scope; and this diversity of perspective is being used to develop a uniquely robust 'map' of the way the world is changing vis-à-vis health needs. As a result, strategies can be determined through a comprehensive rather than a partial–-in both senses of the word--analysis.
2. Who is attending and what was the thinking in determining who should be at the table?
   In addition to the geographical diversity mentioned above, our attendees also represent a diversity of roles and perspectives: Educators, researchers, NGO activists, funders, government officials, and participants from the private sector all have a unique 'take' on issues and capacities to respond to them. The meeting is not only about 'rethinking' how we see issues, but also how we then conceptualize and put in place responses. We believe the conference 'reaches' into many relevant constituencies for planning a more strategic response to the global public health challenges of the coming decades.
3. Why here and why now?
   Now, because there are major forces compelling a rethink of conceptualization and response. Here, because the Mailman School has a 'convening' capacity as a result of its long track record of working on major global health issues and the international partnerships that have formed. Allied to our 'convening' role within the ASPH on global health issues, we are working with other key institutions to bring people together to 'plot' the future.
4. How many nations will be represented?
   More than 30 at last count.
5. Why is this billed as a "working" conference?
   Because people are here to work! There will be presentations, but these are relatively few and are all designed to stimulate discussion and the development of our thinking. The whole structure of the meeting is designed around making use of the rich diversity and capacities that we are bringing together in one room for 48 hours.
6. What do you hope will come out of this event?
   A clearer, consensual vision or map of the key forces 'changing the landscape' so radically in the coming years. A sense of the major strategic approaches required to negotiate that landscape. And an appreciation of the complementary and collaborative roles that a variety of 'constituencies' can play in implementing those strategies (potentially linked through proposed 'knowledge networks' convened around key issues).
7. Will any of the conference be webcast? How can I view it?
   Glad you asked. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation has very generously offered to webcast the major presentations. Webcasts will be available the day after each presentation. These can be viewed on the conference website.