• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Early Health: New International Commitments Bridge Policy Gap

Posted on: Monday, 3 April 2006, 15:00 CDT

SEATTLE, April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pacific Health Summit today announced four strategic initiatives that organizers say will advance the formation of global policies focused on "early health" -- the prevention, early detection and early treatment of disease. Internationally renowned scientists, policy-makers, medical professionals and industry leaders lead the initiatives.

"As part of our common humanity, we now share the experience of infectious and chronic diseases at a global level, both in terms of terrible human suffering as well as the threat of catastrophic economic losses," said Michael Birt, executive director of the Pacific Health Summit and director of the Center for Health and Aging at The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). "But thanks to the Pacific Health Summit, we have the opportunity to mobilize the best minds in science, policy, medicine, public health and industry to combat the march of these horrible diseases by detecting and treating them early."

"The Pacific Health Summit is an ambitious endeavor," said Dr. Lee Hartwell, the 2001 Nobel laureate for medicine or physiology and the president and director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which co-presents the Summit with NBR. "Early health is the key to a healthy planet. By working to create effective health policies, participants at the Summit are truly changing the world. These initiatives are a good start in the right direction."

The Summit's initiatives include: the Early Health Index, an annual policy and outcomes benchmarking study; the Health Information Technology and Policy Workgroup, which focuses on the policy framework for the international adoption of information technologies; the Emerging Infections and Pandemics Workgroup, which seeks to develop better preparedness for future pandemics; and East-Meets-West, a workgroup that looks at the integration of the Western approach to medicine and traditional Chinese medicine.

The Early Health Index, supported by McKinsey & Company and GE Healthcare, combines analytical and perceptual health measurements in order to support the implementation of "early health" and the basic elements of prevention, early detection and early treatment of disease.

The Health Information Technology and Policy Workgroup will examine the national and international public policy framework surrounding public health, science and technology. This workgroup will study and propose policy changes that could improve health outcomes in four key areas: disease detection, reporting and tracking; healthy aging; effective international standards and forms of exchange; and clinical-trial information-support systems and regulations. Fujitsu, Intel, Microsoft and GE Healthcare sponsor this initiative.

The Emerging Infections and Pandemics Workgroup will study the development of an information network to link policy, effective science and management plans across the Pacific Rim to minimize the human and economic impact of emerging infections and pandemics. The workgroup will analyze responses to the possibility of future pandemic outbreaks from two perspectives: the public-private nexus, focused on the roles and responsibilities of the public and private sectors before and during a pandemic outbreak; and the geopolitical implications of an outbreak, expanding the concept of national security to incorporate public health and regional cooperation.

The East-Meets-West Workgroup evaluates the respective roles of Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine to facilitate the possible integration of the different approaches to cure disease and promote wellness. The Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness of the Coca-Cola Company sponsors this initiative.

The Pacific Health Summit brings together 300 of the best minds in science, policy, medicine, public health and industry from across the Asia-Pacific to launch a global transformation of health care based on the prevention, early detection and early treatment of disease. The Summit was launched in June 2005 as a multi-year effort to provide an innovative platform for joining together science and policy to build a healthier future. The next Summit meeting is June 20-22, 2006 in Seattle.

Core funding for the Pacific Health Summit is provided by The Russell Family Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Major sponsors include GE Healthcare, Microsoft, the Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness of the Coca-Cola Company, Intel, the National Cancer Institute, Fujitsu, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche Diagnostics, Affymetrix and the Canary Foundation.

For more information about the Pacific Health Summit, visit: http://www.pacifichealthsummit.org/.

For more information about the Summit's co-organizers, visit: http://www.fhcrc.org/ http://www.nbr.org/

Pacific Health Summit

CONTACT: Sam Butler, +1-206-268-2255, or sam.butler@edelman.com, forPacific Health Summit

Web site: http://www.pacifichealthsummit.org/http://www.fhcrc.org/http://www.nbr.org/

Source: PRNewswire

More News in this Category