Letter of the President on the MDGs Project

Dear colleagues,

Whether the MDGs can still be achieved until 2015 as envisaged is under debate while some of the earlier positive trends seem to have been reverted in the wake of the financial crisis. In addition there are big disparities between countries and within.

The Executive Board of WFPHA has agreed to execute a survey among its member organizations on the role of the public health workers in their country and the experience of their members with the MDG related international and national policies and programs (beyond the statistical/epidemiological analysis).

This project will be conducted by the WFPHA secretariat (Project coordinator: M. Lomazzi; co-investigator: L. Tapia) from March to Mai 2012 and will consist in a quali-quantitaive questionnaire that could be completed on line or by direct interviews.

The questionnaire will be available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Arab while interview could be performed in English, French, Spanish or Chinese.

Therefore, we kindly require each of our member PHAs to send us (to: leticia ) by end February 2012 the names and contact details (see attached file) of 3 people that have been involved in MDGs projects in your association or country. We recommend selecting 3 independent professionals with different backgrounds and fields/areas of activities.

I consider this project of highest importance for the Federation and worldwide as almost all other reports and analyses are restricted to the statistical aspect and do not take into account the individual experience of public health professionals working in the field. I therefore strongly recommend you to actively answer to this call.

Thank you very much!

Ulrich Laaser

WFPHA President

Version française avec formulaire de contact.

Versión española con Formulario de contacto.

CALL FOR EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION EXTENDED

DELEGATE REGISTRATION

Early Bird Registration for the 13th World Congress on Public Health has been extended to February 29.

All registration forms must be submitted by email or by fax to the Congress Secretariat in Addis Ababa or the WFPHA Secretariat in Geneva. Although on-site registration will be available, it is recommended to register early.

Registration

Congress Website

THE WFPHA GOT INVOLVED

WHO consultation with Member States on the global monitoring framework and suggested targets for NCDs.

WHO has posted, on its website, the report of the 15 December “Informal Dialogue” with NGOs.

A discussion Paper on monitoring and targets has bee issued on 21 December.

Another posting by WHO of great interest is the record of the meeting of UN agencies on 8 December to agree follow-up to NCD Summit:

The World Heart Federation has just produced a new factsheet on NCDs, should anyone have use for it for NCD advocacy.

Message from the NCD Alliance Network

Debate about NCDs featured prominently at the WHO Executive Board (EB) all last week and the NCD community had a significant impact on deliberations by Member States – both those represented on the Board and those in attendance.The EB made some progress in defining a process and timeline for work on NCDs but lack of resources at WHO for this work remains a serious concern.

The following update includes brief details on:

1.The main NCD resolution on WHO’s work plan in relation to the Political Declaration (PD)

2.The timeline agreed through the resolution

3.NCDA lobbying during the week and discussions on NCDs outside the EB meeting

4.Resolutions on access to active ageing and mental health; papers on Social Determinants and Rio+20

To follow up on these issues, go to the NCD Alliance Website

WHO EB-meeting

All resolutions/decisions by the EB on various WHO items of business, including MDGs, NCDs, SDH and other issues, have been posted on the WHO’s website.

We encourage all PHAs to access and read them.

MEMBER's INVOLVEMENT

Two new Position Statements of CPHA

The health and social impacts of both the use of and policies related to tobacco and alcohol in Canada are substantial, in terms of costs to the health system, costs to individuals and their families, and costs to society. They are also largely preventable.

In January 2012, the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) released two new position statements. In The Winnable Battle: Ending Tobacco Use in Canada, CPHA advocates for a tobacco-free Canada by the year 2035 and calls upon all levels of government, the non-governmental sector, citizens and the public health community to work together to achieve this goal. This CPHA position paper, which uses the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control as its basis, encourages the Government of Canada to continue its leadership within a pan-Canadian strategy for tobacco control through the renewal of an enhanced Federal Tobacco Control Strategy.

The second CPHA position paper, Too High a Cost: A Public Health Approach to Alcohol Policy in Canada, outlines a strategy that brings together a combination of population-based and targeted policy and programmatic interventions that can effectively reduce the harm and burden caused by alcohol. The CPHA statement is consistent with the WHO Global Alcohol Strategy that Canada endorsed in 2010 and builds upon the Canadian National Alcohol Strategy (2007) and the recently released Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines.

We invite the World Federation of Public Health Associations to inform its members about these new position statements. They are available in electronic format on CPHA's webpage.

Exitos y Desafíos de la Asociación Nicaraguense de Salud Pública (ANSAP)

Dr. Victor Méndez-Dussán

Presidente Asociación Nicaragüense de Salud Pública

Texte in spanish here

PUBLICATIONS

The Federation's Pages

"An invisible epidemic: Preventing unintentional injuries among children and youth – A priority for national Public Health Associations"

The February 2012 issue of the Journal of Public Health Policy is now available online.

Other Newsletters

The Graduate Institute Geneva and its Global Health Programme's Newsletter (December)

The third special issue will be published in May/June 2013.
Once published the supplement will be available online with free access to download articles.

UPCOMING EVENTS

A Critical Shift to Chronic Conditions: Learning From the Frontliners

Register now for Geneva Health Forum and enjoy an early bird rate, deadline: 20 February. To register, click here

RIO +20

The innovative format for stakeholder participation articulated in Agenda 21, known as “the Major Groups”, affords a high level of engagement for representatives within the Rio+20 process.

Accreditation and Registration to Rio+20 Now Open

More information by visiting the following link

Global Health & Innovation Conference 2012

 Presented by Unite For Sight, 9th Annual Conference
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Saturday, April 21 - Sunday, April 22, 2012
Website 

CALL FOR ACTION

FIFA is forcing Brazilian government to change law

WFPHA MEMBER's COMMUNICATION

Lessons From Past Resolutions

Theodor Abelin

The purpose of this short report is to review some of the history of WFPHA Resolutions and Position Papers since1978, when a paper prepared by the WFPHA served as one of the major inputs for the Conference of Alma Ata on Primary Health Care. Since the 1990s, Resolutions have occupied an important place in the life of the Federation and the discussions at its General Assemblies. As a rule, resolutions have to be proposed by member associations, but more practically, many reflect the expertise and concerns of individuals, mostly in academic positions, who had chosen to participate in Federation activities through their national Public Health Association and in turn to make use of WFPHA’s international prestige and connections to better reach the advocacy goals related to their academic work. These individuals were or still are professionally involved in international working groups or in negotiations in preparation of international treaties, and thus have been well placed to judge when and how a WFPHA resolution could have a practical effect.

Read more here

A great thank you also to Heidi who has rewritten and formatted all past resolutions.

New Intern at the WFPHA

Miss Leticia Tapia started her internship at the WFPHA in January 2012 for a period of 6 months. She is a Mexican student of International Relations that came to Switzerland 3 years ago to complete her studies. Her project at the Federation focuses on MDGs. More information about this activity will be soon available.

Contact

Bid 2015

On behalf of the World Federation of Public Health Association’s Executive Board, we want to thank Dr. Mika Gissler and the other members of the 2015 World Congress Bid Selection Committee. The selection of a successful bid is an important item of business for WFPHA, as the World Congress is the most visible event that we offer. The Board will take the Committee’s recommendation into consideration at its next meeting.

The active involvement of representatives of WFPHA member associations as volunteer advisors and technical experts is critical to the Federation’s capacity to function. We appreciate the time and effort of the members invested in this process.

The World Justice Project and the WFPHA

Letter from Bill Neukom

WFPHA GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2012 IN ADDIS ABABA

The General Assembly of the WFPHA will take place on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 12:30 in Addis Ababa. In order to help us plan for this event, I am asking WFPHA members to please confirm whether or not a representative of their public health association will attend this event. Please note that WFPHA member associations will be responsible for covering their own travel and accommodation costs.

Could you please send confirmation whether your public health association will be represented at the WFPHA General Assembly to Laetitia Bourquin by March 19, at the latest?

We hope that your public health association will be able to attend the General Assembly.

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

Become friend of the WFPHA on http://www.facebook.com/WFPHA and join the WFPHA Facebook group!