Representatives from the Royal College of Physicians have attended the 10th anniversary World Health Summit held in Berlin this week.
Held once a year, the World Health Summit has grown into the world’s most prominent forum for addressing global health issues. It brings together key leaders from academia, politics, civil society and the private sector to address the most pressing health-related challenges on the planet and provides an important forum to engage at European and global policy level.
This year’s key themes included:
- pandemic preparedness
- sustainable development goals
- access to essential medicines
- strengthening health systems
- antimicrobial resistance
- digital healthcare.
The RCP was represented by RCP Global programme manager Jennifer Eastin and RCP principal European adviser Paul Belcher. In the many summit sessions and discussions, they were able to highlight a range of RCP activities including:
- RCP partnership in East Africa
The Medical Training and Fellowship Programme is a partnership between the RCP, the British Council and the East African Development Bank to reduce the burden of cancer and neurological disorders in the region.
- RCPQI and European health outcomes report
The work of RCP Quality Improvement (RCPQI) was presented and discussed, including our recent European multi-stakeholder report, The Value of Health: Improving Outcomes, led by the RCP's clinical director for quality improvement and patient safety, Professor John Dean.
- Global Health Horizons conference
The forthcoming RCP Global Health Horizons conference was promoted widely at the summit, with much interest in issues to be discussed such as women in healthcare and developing physician leaders for the future.
Summit discussions can be viewed on Twitter via the hashtag #WHS2018. For an RCP-relevant summary follow Paul Belcher on Twitter: @PaulJBelcher.
