Annual Report 2010

The Global Health Council is the largest membership alliance dedicated to saving lives and improving the health of the 2 billion people living on less than $2 per day. The organization serves as a collaborative voice for the full spectrum of global health issues and convened the community around key global health priorities, and embraces a broad coalition of partners to better reflect the global health community as a whole. Most notably, the Global Health Council and its members, through the Roundtables, engaged key decision makers to influence health policy.

We work to ensure that those who strive for improvement and equity in global health have the information and resources they need to succeed by:

• Leading the community in developing a unified voice for a sustainable, evidence-based global health agenda
• Promoting this agenda with policy makers around the world to ensure that health remains a top priority in the international development agenda

The Global Health Council’s membership base includes more than 500 organizations in both resource-rich and resource-poor settings, working together to ensure improvement and equity in global health. Our organizational members include non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions, foundations, and private sector organizations. The Global Health Council’s coalition also includes more than 5,400 individual stakeholders: students, advocates, academics, community health workers, and individual health care practitioners. Our members live and work in more than 100 countries, with half the organizations based in the developing world.

What We Do

The Global Health Council promotes the global health agenda through interaction with a broad range of thought leaders and policy-makers around the world through four key activities:

• Convene members and partners to improve the alignment of research evidence, policy dialogue and practical action by sharing best practices and helping to shape international and U.S. policy decisions. 
  
• Catalyze efforts among the broad network of our membership and other stakeholders by playing an active, leadership role in health and development coalitions and shaping collective positions, policy recommendations and key messages for action. 
  
• Collaborate with multilateral institutions, private sector firms, foundations, think-tanks and government agencies in the global North and the global South to identify, develop and promote solutions across the spectrum of global health issues, including HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, maternal, newborn and child health, health system strengthening, global health innovation and financing for health. 
  
• Communicate the latest advances and policy innovations in global health to a wide audience of policy-makers, practitioners and journalists through a program of research & analysis, and communications, including a variety of new media tools and our Annual International Conference on Global Health, now in its 38th year.

Major Activities in 2010

The Council achieved many milestones in 2010. Here is an overview of our activities during the reporting period, including a report on the Annual International Conference, and our global advocacy, research, outreach and communications efforts to shape the global health policy agenda:

• Hosted the 38th Annual International Conference on Global Health on June 14-18 in Washington, D.C. Dateline 2010: Global Health Goals and Metrics, drew 1,915 participants from 67 countries. The attendees represented 543 different organizations, including 178 member organizations, 27 foundations, and 91 universities/academic institutions. 
  
• Brought 100 participants to meetings with 30 congressional offices during Advocacy Day. Held a reception honoring U.S. Representatives John Boozman (R-AK), Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Donald Payne (D-NJ), and Senator Russell Feingold, (D-WI).
  
• Hosted the annual Global Health Research Symposium, Taking Metrics Global – Measuring Results and Understanding Behavior.
  
• Provided input into and participated in high level meetings to influence policy, such as engaging with the National Security Council regarding the U.S.’ Millennium Development Goals Strategy.
  
• Fostered dialogue on key global health issues, such as child and maternal health, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, health systems and neglected tropical diseases. 
  
• Hosted key decision-makers, such as Ethiopian Health Minister Tedros Ghebreyesus at a policy dinner on the Global Fund.
  
• Council staff continued to convene our Roundtables on critical issues and engaged with key stakeholders around the world.