<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">SLAMA Slim</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Slim.Slama@hcuge.ch">Slim.Slama@hcuge.ch</a>></span><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div bgcolor="white" lang="FR-CH" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D">General info: </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"><a href="http://www.genevahealthforum.org" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">www.genevahealthforum.org</span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://questio.hcuge.ch/ghf/ghfthemes2012/questionnaire.htm" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#FFA82A;text-decoration:none">Your Opinion Counts</span></a><span lang="EN-US">! Geneva
Health Forum, 18-20 April 2012</span></span></p></div><div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">Dear
Colleague,</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">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… </span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">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.</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666"><br>
The questionnaire should take <strong><span>just
one minute</span></strong> of your time! </span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666"><a href="http://questio.hcuge.ch/ghf/ghfthemes2012/questionnaire.htm" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:#FFA82A;text-decoration:none">Click
here</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666"> when you are ready or access the questionnaire below.</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">Urbanization
and access to health <br>
</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">Today, over half of the world’s population lives in urban
areas and the numbers are rapidly rising. </span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">As the process of
urbanization is often rapid and uncontrolled, the fulfilment 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.</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">Gender and Global Access to Health</span></u><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666"> </span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">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.</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">Chronicity and Access</span></u><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666"> </span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">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.</span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">Empowerment and self-reliance</span></u><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666"></span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">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.</span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666"> </span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:#666666">We thank you for your input
(you can access the <a href="http://questio.hcuge.ch/ghf/ghfthemes2012/questionnaire.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color:#FFA82A;text-decoration:none">questionnaire </span></a>also
from here) and look forward to working with you on this next edition of the
Geneva Health Forum.</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#666666"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br></span></font></p></div></div></div></div></div></div>