The 44th Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) Conference on the theme ‘Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) beyond 2015: The Challenge for Public Health’, hosted by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, was held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) from October 14-17. The inauguration was held under the patronage of [...]

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Faculty of Medicine hosts APACPH confab

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The 44th Asia Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) Conference on the theme ‘Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) beyond 2015: The Challenge for Public Health’, hosted by the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, was held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) from October 14-17.

The inauguration was held under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, while Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena and Senior Minister of Scientific Affairs Tissa Vitarana also attended the ceremony.

The MDGs, comprising eight-time bound goals, 18 reachable targets and 48 measurable indicators, with 1990 as a baseline and 2015 as the deadline to achieve the goals, have captured relevant key issues impacting health and development of today. These include poverty, illiteracy, child malnutrition, gender inequality, infant, child and maternal mortality, environment pollution, access to basic amenities, access to health, facilities and access to IT and communication facilities. Having passed the halfway mark in 2008 and with only three years to go it was time for the public health professionals to look beyond 2015, revisit and identify new goals to improve the living conditions of the people, enhance economic status and social empowerment at community level and ultimately bring about sustainable social and economic development of the country.

Around 800 local and international delegates participated in the conference, which was an opportunity to benefit from the experiences and new research findings of experts. The APACPH Kazue McLaren Leadership Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Samlee Plianbangchang for outstanding services in Health Management and Primary Health Care in the Asia-Pacific Region and APACPH’s highest award, The Medallion for Excellence in Global Health Leadership, was conferred on Dr. Wen-Ta Chiu, Taiwan’s Health Minister who was a former President of APACPH and President Taipei Medical University in recognition of his public health research and impact on saving lives.

The Colombo Declaration on Public Health Education was signed at the closing ceremony. The two pre-conference workshops were on Scientific Writing and Social Determinants of Health while the post-conference workshop was on Oral Cancer Prevention.

China will host the 45th APACPH Conference in 2013.




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