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Featured Speakers
Wednesday | Thursday | Friday


Plenary 1: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Transformations: Discovering New Strategies Using Proven Technologies
9-10:30 am
The technology evolution is sparking a health-care revolution. The rapid adoption of mobile technology throughout the world, with more than 4 billion mobile phones alone, has resulted in a leapfrogging over the digital divide. Those in remote and resource-poor settings, without the infrastructure to support wired technology, now have the same access to information and communications as those on the other side of the divide. The potential to transform the way we work, teach, learn and connect, one-to-one or one-to-many, is enormous. In the global health field, mHealth – the use of mobile devices to gather health data and to increase access to and dissemination of health information and services – has just begun to tap into this potential. In this session, we’ll explore the concept of technology transformation – adapting available technology to solve problems – and highlight the adaption and adoption of mHealth solutions throughout the world.

Moderator




Cyrus Farivar
Freelance Technology Journalist
Freelance Radio Reporter/Producer

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Speakers




Ashifi Gogo
PhD Innovation Fellow
Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth
Co-founder
mPedigree, Ghana

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Paul Meyer, JD
Co-founder, Chairman & President
Voxiva

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Katrin Verclas
Co-founder & Editor
MobileActive.org

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Andrew Zolli
Curator
Pop!Tech Conference
Fellow
National Geographic Society

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Special Session 1: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Big Choice: The Successes and Challenges of Open Source Technology
11 am-12:30 pm
As we enter into a new age of information sharing, we are faced with dilemmas and strategic decision-making incurred when implementing new technology. Software, technology platforms, data and content are freely accessible via what is termed “open source.” The goal of open source technology is high-quality, reliable, flexible, and low-cost technology, allowing the customer to use, change and improve it. This choice of open source technology is clearly influenced by the cost benefits, particularly in remote and low-resource settings, but will open source technology truly meet the needs of the user? Is open source technology secure? How do we insure standards and interoperability? In this session, we will explore the concept of “open health,” presenting the pros and cons of open source technologies for health. We will examine the organic growth and the progress made on open source initiatives, and the necessary coordination of local, regional and global expertise to attain a comprehensive approach to health information strengthening across the health sector and beyond.

Moderator




Karl Brown, MIA
Associate Director of Applied Technology
The Rockefeller Foundation

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Speakers




Paul Biondich, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Informatics
Indiana University School of Medicine
Associate Director of Decision Sciences
Regenstrief Institute
Director
World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for the Design, Application, and Research of Medical Information Systems
President
OpenMRS

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Alexandre Rideau
Pape Gaye, MBA
President & CEO
IntraHealth International

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Alexandre Rideau, MA
Director
Reseau Africain D'Education Pour La Sante (RAES), Senegal

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Special Session 2: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Success Stories: Implementing Health Information Systems at the Country Level
2:30-4:15 pm
An integrated and functional health information system (HIS) provides access to accurate information upon which health-care workers and facility administrators, decision-makers and community leaders can make sound decisions. Electronic medical records, data sets for key indicators of public health performance, decision support systems, information and communications technologies for surveillance and/or monitoring health programs – all of these components and more comprise the HIS. Each country is faced with unique challenges to integrating various components into a functional HIS. In this session, we examine the success stories of implementing health information systems at the country level in different regions around the world, and how the initiatives may be replicated in other countries


Moderator




Kristin Braa, DrSc
Professor
System Development Group
Department of Informatics,
University of Oslo, Norway

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Speaker


no photo available

Edward Magbity, MD
Directorate of Planning and Information
Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Sierre Leone



Sundeep Sahay, PhD
HMIS Advisor
National Health Systems Resource Center, India
Professor
Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway

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Vincent Shaw, MBChB
Executive Director
Health Information Systems Programme, South Africa
and Namibia

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no photo available

Johan Ivar Sæbø
Health Metrics Network
WHO

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Plenary 2: Thursday, May 28, 2009

The eHealth Blueprint: Building the Foundation for Integrated Health Systems
8:15-9:35 am
All builders know they are lost without an architect, and all architects realize they are only visionaries without a builder. Building stronger health systems – to increase access, affordability and quality in the most poorly resourced settings – requires both the architect and the builders to come up with a blueprint for success. In eHealth, these roles may be filled by the community health worker and the technology developer. Today, eHealth – health-care practices that are supported by electronic processes and communication, such as electronic medical records, telemedicine, health informatics, health knowledge management, and mobile health technologies – is providing solutions to challenges within health systems throughout the developing world. In this session, we will explore how to leverage the advantages of eHealth to strengthen and transform health systems, increasing access, affordability and quality of health-care services. We will also examine the tools and partnerships required to integrate eHealth solutions into an efficient and effective system.


Moderator




Joanne Silberner
Correspondent
Health Policy, Science Desk, National Public Radio

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Speakers




Venansius Baryamureeba, PhD
Dean of Faculty of Computing and Information Technology
Makerere University, Uganda

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Patricia J. García, MD, MPH
Professor
School of Public Health, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Former Chief
National Health Institutes, Peru

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Shainoor Khoja
Director, Corporate Affairs
Roshan, Afghanistan

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Ariel Pablos-Méndez, MD, MPH
Program Manager
The Rockefeller Foundation

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Special Presentation: Thursday, May 28, 2009

Facts and Fiction about Global Health
9:35-10:15 am



Hans Rosling, MD, PhD
Professor of International Health
Karolinska Institutet
Director
Gapminder Foundation

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Plenary 3: Friday, May 29, 2009

At the Root of the Solution: Vaccine Introduction Present and Future - Challenges and Opportunities
12:45-2:15 pm
Luncheon made possible by an unrestricted grant from GSK.
GSK GlaxoSmithKlineA proven strategy, vaccines have already accomplished so much. With many new vaccines for public health being introduced and new technological and scientific breakthroughs, it is a new era for vaccines. Despite the tremendous potential of vaccines to save millions of lives, now and in the future, there are still technical, social, economic and practical barriers that limit delivery and uptake of vaccines. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) estimates that it takes 15 years for new vaccines to reach developing nations. How do we accelerate and ensure sustainable vaccine introduction, delivery and uptake now and in the future? In this session, we will examine and evaluate the challenges, opportunities and potential solutions to ensuring existing and new vaccines are available, while at the same time strategizing for future vaccines. We will look at the multidisciplinary approach required to meet these challenges, with the goal of maximizing our current and at the same time preparing for our future inventory of vaccines.


Moderator


Orin Levine
Orin Levine
Associate Professor of International Health
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Executive Director
PneumoADIP

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Speakers




Paul Richard Fife, MD
Director of the Global Health and AIDS Department
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)
Norwegian Board representation
GAVI Board
Member of the Global Health and Vaccination Programme
Norwegian Research Council

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Beth Wambui Mugo

Beth Wambui Mugo, MP
Minister for Public Health and Sanitation
Kenya

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David Oot

David Oot
Vice President for Health and Nutrition
Save the Children/U.S.

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Nina Scwalbe

Nina Schwalbe
Managing Director, Policy and Performance
GAVI Alliance

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Kate Taylor

Kate Taylor, MBBS, MPH
Vice President Global Vaccine Policy
and Public Health Partnerships

GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals

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Plenary 4: Friday, May 29, 2009

Tearing Down the Wall: Forging Deeper Commitments to Global Health Development
4:30-6 pm
After a decade of substantial growth in global health programs and the explosion of new initiatives and donor commitments, stakeholder expectations and partnerships have changed significantly. Global conditions have changed substantially, too. In this final plenary session, we will examine progress we have made as a global health community, emerging challenges and changing benchmarks of success, and where we need to rethink approaches to achieve better outcomes in the world’s poorest communities. We’ll discuss how headway gained on the UN Millennium Development Goals and financial commitments made by public and private global health stakeholders can be secured and advanced in a changing global environment.


Moderator




Susan Dentzer
Editor-in-Chief
Health Affairs, published by Project Hope

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Special Greeting




Jonas Gahr Støre
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Norway

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Speakers




Ambassador Amina Salum Ali
African Union
Washington, D.C. Mission

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Paul Richard Fife, MD
Director of the Global Health and AIDS Department
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)

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Maria C. Freire, PhD
President
The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation

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Professor Sir Andy Haines
Director
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

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Gayle Smith

Gayle Smith
Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director

U.S. National Security Council

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