EXPERTS DISCUSS A POTENTIAL GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH CONVENTION IN UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI-LED ADVISORY MEETING Written by Amanda Torres Published on June 25, 2020 Category: University of Miami President, Faculty, Event Distinguished global public health experts, academic leaders, parliamentarians, and journalists convened in a virtual advisory meeting held to discuss the development of a global public health convention for the 21st century. Earlier this year, José Szapocznik, Ph.D., chair emeritus of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences, was awarded a grant by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), a global non-profit organization based in Los Angeles. AHF has operations in 14 states in the U.S., including Florida, as well as in 43 other countries worldwide. The aim of the AHF grant is to develop, in conjunction with the AHF Global Public Health Institute at the University of Miami – a partnership between UM and AHF – a global public health convention plan.
The convention would identify the principles on which to build a process and mechanism for increasing global health security against the spread of infectious diseases, as well as to improve infectious disease pandemic preparedness and rapid response. A meeting, led by the Department of Public Health Sciences and the AHF Global Public Health Institute at UM, took place virtually on June 4, 2020, where Dr. Szapocznik and Jorge Saavedra M.D., M.P.H., M.H.P.M, executive director of the AHF Public Health Institute at UM, served as moderators. President Julio Frenk and Michael Weinstein, president and founder of AHF, gave welcoming remarks at the advisory meeting, as well as emphasized the importance of global cooperation. “It’s really a pleasure to host this now virtual meeting and to see everyone,” President Frenk said, as the advisory meeting was initially going to be held on campus. “We're all united by a strong conviction about the value of global cooperation and healthy global
governance. Today, more than ever before, we are witnessing just how important it is.” “AHF’s original thinking on the need for a global public health convention started several years ago when our own staff, in Sierra Leone and Liberia, who were devoted to providing HIV services, suddenly confronted the need to respond to the Ebola outbreak. During that crisis, we lost a medical doctor and a lab technician,” said Mr. Weinstein. “We are very excited to support and be part of this joint effort based at the UM.” In the months prior to the meeting, each participant had been interviewed to develop an understanding of the facilitators and obstacles to implementing existing international conventions that address global public health security. This information was shared with the advisory group members who used the meeting to continue to develop a shared vision of how to better protect the world against future pandemics. Key stakeholders held fruitful conversations throughout the meeting,
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