By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: The second World Innovation Summit for Health opened here yesterday to discuss new solutions to global health challenges.
The summit, opened by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser at the Qatar National Convention Centre, will discuss advanced care for illnesses like cancer and diabetes, and also take up children’s mental health problems.
In her welcome speech, Sheikha Moza praised experts for their commitment to uncovering vital new solutions to some of the world’s biggest health crises. More than 1,000 world leaders, policy makers and health care experts including Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani attended the
two-day event.
Also present were Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco, Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, and Princess Ghida Talal of Jordan. “Health care and health care access go to the heart of human rights. We cannot overcome our health care challenges unless we begin to invest in solutions that link health and education, as they are intrinsically connected. Innovation in education lead us to innovation in health. It is our wish to promote the causes of both access to basic primary education and universal health coverage,” Sheikha Moza said.
“Providing basic health care for all is not the only concern we share globally. Collective challenges include the emergence of new and serious epidemics such as Ebola. These illnesses, stemming from unconventional origins, are outside our traditional health care concerns,” she added.
The summit, a Qatar Foundation (QF) initiative, discusses pressing healthcare issues, including making a call for a global response to dementia through policy innovation, improving mental health and well-being of children, preventing and managing Type 2 diabetes, transforming patient safety and delivering universal health coverage.
Professor Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair, WISH, said, “In the face of growing health concerns, reducing budgets and increasingly fluid global borders we face a crossroads in world health that presents a unique dilemma for us all.
“We must act urgently to share our experiences, combine our insights and progress solutions together. Only through collaboration can we be sure to find the right answers and only with innovation can we deliver the outcomes needed. WISH provides the platform for such action and I am proud to be welcoming the world’s experts to Doha today to create a healthier future for all,” he said.
For the first time in the history of the summit, five young innovators from around the world showcase their findings to improve and provide advanced healthcare. WISH 2015 is also hosting a panel on genomics, looking at the future of personalised medicine and ethical dilemmas it could bring. There is another panel on newborn and maternal health hosted with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Harvard University and Save the Children.
THE PENINSULA
