SEATTLE - Leading representatives from government and international organizations – including the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) – are meeting this week in Tokyo to discuss building the health systems of the future.
The conference is the first major international global health meeting to be held since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at September’s UN General Assembly meetings, and is in advance of the May 2016 G7 meetings in Japan.
Global health leaders attending the conference include Bill Gates, co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan; Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank; and NAM President Dr. Victor J. Dzau. During the meeting, attendees will discuss ways to build sustainable health systems that can reduce disparities while also effectively responding to international health crises (such as the recent Ebola outbreak).
At the conference, IHME director and Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington Dr. Christopher J.L. Murray will participate in a panel discussion of opportunities and challenges in the changing development landscape.
Home to the world’s largest repository of health data, IHME is the coordinating center for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, a collaboration among more than 1,400 researchers in 120 countries. By quantifying health loss from hundreds of diseases, injuries, and risk factors, GBD offers policymakers powerful tools for improving health systems and reducing disparities. The most recent iteration of the study produced estimates for 323 diseases and injuries, 67 risk factors, and 1,500 sequelae for 188 countries.
Dr. Murray’s panel will be led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s Dr. Peter Piot. Dr. Piot is also Chair of the Independent Advisory Committee, which provides external feedback on the GBD enterprise. Other IHME-related leaders attending the conference include IHME board member Dr. Lincoln C. Chen, President of the China Medical Board, as well as Dr. Seth Berkeley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Other conference sessions will be devoted to universal health-care-related challenges, creating responsive health systems, and the role of the G7 in addressing to global health crises.
For more information about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including the goal of ensuring well-being for all ages, click here. And explore IHME’s research and interactive data visualizations at healthdata.org.