Global Government Health Partners to Meet in Atlanta, Discuss Emerging Threats

Emory University
Tuesday, 15 June 2004

Just two weeks after the G-8 Summit on the Georgia coast, global government health leaders from more than 70 developed and developing nations will convene June 21-25 in Atlanta, at a forum that could almost be called the "G-80" for global health.

In a time when emerging biological threats - intended and natural, such as SARS, West Nile Virus, anthrax and HIV/AIDS - honor no borders or boundaries among countries, the need for collaborative partnership and critical care from nurses, physicians and health leaders is acute.

Chief Nursing Officers, Chief Medical Officers and Ministers of Health from across the globe will meet with leaders from the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pan American Health Organization, UNICEF, The Carter Center, Emory University and from other major organizations and countries, under the umbrella of the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing at Emory University School of Nursing.

"Partnerships between government medical and nursing leaders are critical," says Marla E. Salmon, ScD, RN, FAAN, dean of Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and director of the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing, secretariat for the conference. "Many key partnerships, built at our first global conference, continue to bring significant results to the world of global health as will new working relationships cultivated at this forum."

Jeffery P. Koplan, MD, MPH, vice president for academic affairs for Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center, and conference co-chair with Dean Salmon, concurs, saying, "Threats like SARS or new strains of influenza travel quickly across national borders and demand quick, coordinated response from healthcare leaders globally. It is vitally important to have leaders who know and trust their colleagues and have thought deeply about the required responses ahead of time."

The conference, entitled "Global Government Health Partners Leadership Forum 2004: Managing Emerging Biological Threats Through Professional Collaboration," will be held June 24-25, 2004 at The Carter Center. Health leaders will discuss challenges, form partnerships and devise approaches to handle global emerging biological threats. All will leave the conference with individually crafted, functional plans to carry back to their native countries.

Featured speakers include:

• Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention & Administrator of the Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
• Jack C. Chow, MD, MPH, MBA, MS, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization, for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria
• Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, Prime Minister, St. Kitts and Nevus
• Peter McDermott, RN, Chief, HIV/AIDS Section, UNICEF
• Thomas Bornemann, EdD, Director of Mental Health Program, The Carter Center
• Allison J. McGeer, MD, FRCPC, Director, Infection Control, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada; Ms. McGeer is also a SARS survivor.
• Hon. Janet Museveni, First Lady of Uganda; Sir George Alleyne MD, Director Emeritus, Pan American Health Organization; and Ms. Anne Jarvie, Chief Nursing Officer of Scotland will be awarded International Nursing Awards for Advancing Human Health on the evening of June 24.

For further information visit the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing online at http://prod-nursing.emory.edu/lccin/.

For more information, or to contact Emory University, see their website at: whsc.emory.edu