Tuesday 06 November 2018, 13:00 – 16:00
Venue: The Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Lilla Frescativägen 4A, Stockholm
Organisers: SIGHT and the Graduate Institute of Geneva
How will we manage our resources when (not if) polio is eradicated? How do YOU think the global health landscape will change in the post-polio landscape? Come and discuss this with experts in the field.
With only 22 polio cases occurring in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan in 2017, polio eradication is imminent, having major implications beyond the creation of the global public good of ending a disease in human beings for only the second time in history. The challenge and opportunity now arises from the fact that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has built up tremendous ‘polio assets’. These include laboratories, skilled human resources, managerial and technical systems and empowered groups and individuals at community levels. The completion of polio eradication has broad implications for global health – including on how best to preserve and use the polio assets at the national level and on the future financing of WHO at the global level.
This aim of this event is to raise awareness and stimulate debate among global health stakeholders in Sweden on the post-polio transition within the context of the SDGs.
The specific objectives of the meeting are:
- To explore the impact of the “transitioning of polio assets” in the context of the SDGs, in particular SDG 3, health system strengthening and universal health coverage.
- To discuss the relevance and national ownership in countries with ODA, particularly in fragile states.
- To explore the global consequences of the post-polio transition, including the financial implications for multilateral support and the impact on WHO.
Confirmed speakers include: Anders Nordström, Ambassador for Global Health at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Peter Friberg, Co-founder and Director of the Swedish Institute for Global Health Transformation; Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, Professor at Aga Khan University and Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children; Jean-Bosco Ndihokubwayo, Regional Advisor, Clinical Laboratories and Technologies (CLT), WHO Representative to Chad; Ngozi Nwosu, National Coordinator of the Nigeria Polio Transition Planning Task Team, National Primary Health Care Development Agency; Robb Butler, Vaccine Demand, Unicef. The event will be moderated by Professor Anna Mia Ekström, Professor at Karolinska Institutet.
Interested? Please register here.
