Health was the cornerstone of the 43rd World Economic Forum Annual Meeting– which concluded yesterday. Global health and health systems featured prominently with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, key health ministers, and over 25 leaders from the healthcare industry in attendance, including our Founder and President, Dr Sania Nishtar.
Founded in 1971, The World Economic Forum, draws leaders to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland for its Annual Meeting each January. It brings together key figures in the business, political and academic professions to “shape global, regional and industry agendas” with the overall aim of “improving the state of the world.” Health is directly aligned to this mission, following the Global Health Initiative launch in 2002, with this year’s Forum focusing on three key health-related activities: advocacy, dialogue and action through partnership. Under the Meeting’s main theme “Resilient Dynamism,” the Forum framed health-related high-level events around the future of sustainable national health systems, workplace wellness and individual health.
The healthcare sector can no longer deal with global health challenges alone, due to their sheer magnitude and interconnected nature. This has called for a paradigm shift in the global approach to health, in that mutual accountability and shared responsibility from stakeholders across sectors should be the norm.
The involvement of multiple stakeholders at the 2013 Meeting – including NGOs, local governments, academic experts, intergovernmental organizations and private organizations, provided a unique opportunity for dialogue and interactions across sectors. Recognising the critical role of the private sector in addressing health issues is of particular importance, something which the Forum encourages by setting up public-private partnerships (PPP).
There were several health-related sessions which took place over the six days, including one on the Future of Health, during which Dr Nishtar acted as official rapporteur – a new role introduced by WEF this year, to allow rapporteurs to build upon high-level topic expertise. The session was centred on technology and digital health, and dealt with how personalized technologies can transform the health landscape, with particular emphasis on combating the emerging threat of non-communicable diseases.
As the prevalence of NCDs increases rapidly worldwide, there is growing recognition that old models of healthcare delivery are no longer sustainable in the developed world and that new models are needed in emerging markets and the developing world. Indeed, the WEF estimates that “worldwide $47 trillion of cumulative output loss can be expected in the next two decades due to NCDs and ill mental health”, with obesity to blame for 44 percent of the diabetes burden and 23 percent of heart disease costs. The big questions – tackled at this year’s Forum – were how to provide, disseminate and fund prevention and treatment before such public health problems spiral out of control.
One initiative which builds on the work that the WEF has been doing on NCDs over the past few years is the Healthy Living Initiative. The second phase of which; The Charter for Healthy Living and a Toolkit for Joint Action, to catalyse multistakeholder collaborations were finalized at the Meeting and will be rolled out this year. The Charter “outlines specific focus areas for multistakeholder action, provides principles for a shared mindset for collaborative actions, calls for stakeholders to build on their core competencies to advance the healthy living agenda and stresses the importance of continuously monitoring and evaluating the actions implemented.” The aim of the report is to introduce the Charter to a wider audience.
Other health initiatives have also been set up by the WEF over the past few years, including Scenarios for Sustainable Health Systems and the Workplace Wellness Alliance. The results and recommendations were published on Thursday 24th January.
The major emphasis on health at the Annual Meeting 2013 is highly encouraging for the health community, but the challenge now is turning these dialogues and recommendations into sustainable action that will benefit the poorest and help narrow the health gap that exists in many countries between rich and poor.
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Image adopted from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/us-davos-risks-idUSBRE90709K20130108
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