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Global Health Council (GHC)

The Global Health Council is the world's largest alliance dedicated to improving health worldwide. Several hundred health NGOs around the world are joined together in this council to share knowledge and resources, build partnerships and together become stronger advocates for health. IFMSA is very fortunate to enjoy the benefits of the Global Health Council's membership. It is a wonderful opportunity for medical students to learn from and join forces with the professional practitioners and advocates in the field of Global Health.

Global Health Council website: www.globalhealth.org

Click here to download the Recommendation letter of GHC for IFMSA.

In this page:

About the Global Health Council
Free Associate Professional Membership
The Global Health Council's Annual Conference
Relationship between the Global Health Council and IFMSA
History of previous collaboration between the Global Health Council and IFMSA
Ongoing projects and sources of collaboration
Examples of how you might utilise the Liaison Officer to the Global Health Council

About the Global Health Council

Introduction

The Global Health Council is a membership organization that believes global health is the cornerstone in the foundation of our globalised world. The Council is an umbrella organization composed of professionals in the health-care field, non-governmental and governmental organizations, academic institutions, foundations and corporations. Its goal is to galvanize these groups to action in the 21st century, and toward that end, the Council advocates, builds alliances and communicates ideas and best practices in the health field. Since April 2001, IFMSA has been a full member of the Global Health Council. The Global Health Council has an excellent website that is useful for everybody interested in global health: www.globalhealth.org. The Global Health Council's central location is Washington D.C., USA.

Free Associate Professional Membership

As an IFMSA member, you have access to free associate professional membership. To access this membership, contact the IFMSA Liaison Officer on Public Health (lph@ifmsa.org). This professional membership in a leading global health organization provides IFMSA members with weekly global health news and policy updates; discounts to the GHC annual conference; and access to the GHC jobs database. Do not miss this amazing opportunity!

Mission

The Global Health Council's Mission is to promote better health around the world by assisting all who work for improvement and equity in global health to secure the information and resources they need to work effectively.

Toward this end, they serve their members through our work in advocacy, building alliances, and communicating experiences and best practices.

Each year, all around the world, tens of millions of human beings die needlessly, and hundreds of millions of lives are ravaged by ill health.

The world has the resources to greatly reduce this loss and suffering. When it comes to global health, there is no them, only us.

Plan of Action: ABC

The Global Health Council fulfills its mission to further the cause of improving health equity worldwide through Advocacy, Building alliances, and Communicating best practices and experiences.

Advocacy is a way to enable health practitioners, advocates, policymakers, teachers and students, here and abroad, to have one voice against the threat of diseases that take their toll on all aspects of our lives, be it economic, political or personal.

Building alliances gives the Global Health Council members from around the world the means to speak in a common language and share their successes and frustrations. It allows our community to discuss the commonalities of challenges we face in our work to make the world a healthier place.

Communicating best practices is our opportunity to learn from and share the work we've accomplished, not only with our members but also with the world of health practitioners at large. Our work is accomplished, not only by making the world a healthier place to live, but also by giving our work a voice that will resonate to all corners of the globe.

Key Issues

To achieve its mission, the Council brings together the global actors in health around seven key issues which have been identified as critical to improving health and promoting equity. Directing our common efforts politically and practically will dramatically reduce disease and death in all countries. The Council's key issues:

History

The Global Health Council, formerly the National Council of International Health, is a U.S.-based, nonprofit membership organization that was created in 1972 to identify priority world health problems and to report on them to the U.S. public, legislators, international and domestic government agencies, academic institutions and the global health community.

Dr. Nils Daulaire, the Global Health Council's president and CEO, was recruited in 1998 to transform the Global Health Council into a dynamic organization that puts global health squarely where it belongs: a priority for everyone, rich and poor alike.

The Global Health Council's Annual Conference

Every year in May, the Global Health Council host an Annual Conference on a particular global health issue. Approximately 1500 medical doctors, public health workers, public and private sector representatives, from 80 different countries, gather to discuss the progress that has been made and the work that remains to be done to ensure the improvement of health globally. One of the greatest opportunities of IFMSA's membership to the Global Health Council is the possibility of presenting our projects at the Council's Annual Conference, held in Washington D.C. Last year, the title of the 28th Annual Conference was 'Healthy Women, Healthy World'. You can read the report of IFMSA delegation to this conference here.

In May 2002, the Global Health Council will host their 29th Annual Conference. It will be held from the 28th till 31st of May 2002 in Washington DC. This year's conference theme will be "Global Health in Times of Crisis". IFMSA representatives will present the abstract "Medical Student Initiatives in Refugee Health", submitted by Liv Lyngå and the Refugee Health Workshop team. This abstract is based on the proceedings of the workshop on Refugee Health, which took place at the IFMSA August 2001 in Denmark.

This year's Conference Theme is especially relevant to the work of IFMSA. An increasing number of crises are having a negative impact on the health of families and communities around the world. Military and political conflicts, natural disasters, environmental catastrophes and collapsing economies result in injuries and death, psycho-social trauma, rapid spread of communicable diseases, food insecurity, nutritional deficiencies, sexual abuses and the breakdown of health services. Relief and rehabilitation work in complex emergencies has become a significant element of international public health activities, and there is no sign that the scope or frequency of these crises is decreasing. Responding to these complex emergencies and improving the effectiveness of public health interventions requires cross-sector cooperation and coordination; strong national, regional and global mechanisms for rapid response as well as long-term planning; and models of effective rehabilitation and transition. Crisis situations endanger health and human rights, but they also create opportunities to fundamentally transform healthcare systems. The Global Health Council will be responding to this wide range of issues by bringing together healthcare providers, community organizers, program managers, policy makers, researchers, and advocates from around the world, working in this area.

More information about the conference as well as all the conference proceedings will be available on the Global Health Website: www.globalhealth.org. Learning about the conference theme and the presenters might provide you with interesting and relevant information or contacts for your own projects and activities.

Relationship between the Global Health Council and IFMSA

Since April 2001, IFMSA has been a full member of the Global Health Council. IFMSA is very fortunate to enjoy the benefits of the Global Health Council's membership. It is a wonderful opportunity for medical students to learn from and join forces with the professional practitioners and advocates in the field of Public Health.

Some of the membership benefits include:

Submit an abstract for the Global Health Council's Annual Conference. In case the abstract is accepted you will be able to present your research or project in a Panel Discussion, Round Table Discussion or Poster Presentation.
Network at the Global Health Council's Annual Conference. This year the theme is Global Health in Times of Crisis. We can hear what the leaders in the field say about global health issues, while networking with other organizations.
Discover what other members are doing and share in their best practices through the Global Health Council Publications. In Global HealthLink® and Global AIDSLink®, you will find member and Council news, profiles, best practices, public policy changes, resources and links to other organizations under our umbrella.
Share information and influence policy on global HIV/AIDS issues by working with the Global Health Council Global AIDS Program. The program collects and exchanges information through its global network.
Work with the Global Health Council Public Policy team to advocate for global programs that will change the face of health worldwide. Become part of the Power of Ten, an exclusive group that keeps in close contact with Congress to raise the priority of health issues in the perceptions of decision-makers.
Be in touch through the website: www.globalhealth.org. There is a direct link from the Global Health Council website to the IFMSA website. Additionally, IFMSA events can be listed at the Global Health Council website, under the news and events section.

History of previous collaboration between the Global Health Council and IFMSA

The Global Health Council president, Nils Daulaire, was present at the August Meeting of IFMSA in 2001 in Aalborg, Denmark. This meeting was a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of IFMSA and was called the International Training Congress for Medical Students (ITCMS). Nils Daulaire gave a keynote lecture and participated in a panel discussion at our Anniversary Day on August 6th. Dr. Daulaire's words made a strong impact on the students present, reminding us that we live in a global society and we must act at a global level to combat the diseases that plague our societies. You can read more about Nils Daulaire's contribution to IFMSA's 50th Anniversary day here.

At the same August Meeting in 2001, Nils Daulaire also contributed to the program of the Poverty and Disease workshop. Dr. Daulaire opened this 5-day training workshop with an objective description of poverty and the livelihoods of people under poverty-stricken conditions. Dr. Daulaire presented us with examples of his own time spent in India, Bangladesh and Nepal where he witnessed the dire conditions of the people who were struggling barely to survive. His reflections bore down on he audience that poverty is not just a disease, it's a curse as well - at least for the people who witness it every day in their own lives and yet feel powerless to be able to change much around them. The potential the role of medical workers and community workers, including students, in eliminating that feeling of helplessness and bringing empowerment and smalls scale development into the communities was greatly stressed. You can read more about the Poverty and Disease workshop here.

Ongoing projects and sources of collaboration

Below are some of the activities that IFMSA has been or is working on in collaboration with the Global Health Council (GHC):

IFMSA Refugee Health workshop (August Meeting 2001, Denmark)
IFMSA HIV-AIDS and Human Rights workshops (Indonesia and South Africa)
IFMSA Godfrey's Children project (Tanzania)
IFMSA Refugee Health workshop (Pakistan)

Examples of how you might utilise the Liaison Officer to the Global Health Council

The Liaison Officer provides the link between IFMSA and the Global Health Council. These are some examples of what the Liaison Officer can do for you:

To provide contacts to the right person within the Council.
To provide contacts of other members of the Council, such as NGOs, universities, funds, (inter) governmental organizations, etc.
To assist with abstract submission or attendance to the Global Health Council Annual Conference.
To connect projects running in the Global Health Council and in IFMSA, that can benefit from each other.
To provide information on projects, events and conferences of the Global Health Council.
To provide information and facts on specific topics, such as HIV/AIDS, the status of refugees etc.
To help with the PR and publicity of existing projects, for example by arranging a event listing on the website or an announcement in one of the Council's publications.
To solve specific problems in projects in cooperation with IFMSA's project committee.
To help with the evaluation of projects and proposals in cooperation with IFMSA's project committee.
To assist with project-fundraising in cooperation with the IFMSA fundraising task-force. Examples include:
To ask for recommendation letters from the Global Health Council for projects arranged by IFMSA members.
To provide information on grant and funding applications
To facilitate in kind donations such as speakers and materials.
To provide reading materials for workshops etc.