The Geneva Health Forum, usually held in Geneva, took place this year from the 16th to the 18th November 2020, and was completely virtual. For 3 days, the Forum gathered 1,600 participants, all of them being leading players in global health and humanitarian aid. The event, dedicated to health innovations, addressed the global health crisis that affects us all, but also key global health challenges, such as universal health coverage and digital health.
21 online conferences were broadcast live during the 3-day event – recordings will be available online for 3 months after the end of the Forum. In addition to webinars, virtual exhibition stands were also accessible, giving the possibility to leading players in global health to meet around innovative solutions all over the world. Preselected scientific posters were also exhibited and presented live by their authors.
The ESN participated in the Geneva Health Forum holding a virtual exhibition stand to highlight the actions of its members, including the innovation Filgood, developed by the association Adosen. The ESN also presented its poster dedicated to the project on the health of educational communities in Haiti SACHA, led by CEMEA-Haiti and supported by Wallonia-Brussels International (WBI).
Finally, the ESN attended several webinars, essentially about the access to health care and the extension of social protection.
The conclusions of the conference “Extending social health while protecting equity” (ILO, Global Fund, AIHD) underlined that the Covid-19 crisis gave a boost to social protection issues and that it is essential to ensure that these emergency responses are maintained and transformed into long-term social protection solutions and systems. Efforts to reduce access barriers (stigmatisation, discrimination, gender-based barriers) should be maintained, as well as collaboration with civil society organisations and strengthening community social protection systems, which are essential to meet the needs of the most vulnerable.
The webinar “Is health through digital technology an essential prerequisite for the achievement of universal health coverage?” (WHO, ICN, Terre des hommes, PATH) recalled that digital technologies offer today new opportunities and approaches for the organisation and the provision of health services at all stages of health care, including health promotion, prevention, primary care, specialised care, long-term care, and patient self-management. Using these tools, it is still essential to ensure the ethical consideration of everyone’s privacy and that the human being is always the top priority. For instance, it will also be necessary to ensure that health data are not monetised. Finally, the participants supported the strengthening of an international regulatory framework for health data.
Find more information on the event on the Geneva Health Forum website.
