History and vision

The first Geneva Health Forum took place in 2006 in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the University Hospitals of Geneva, marking a long-term commitment to the provision of health care, research, and training. This first edition provided a state of the art on access to health around the world. The second edition of the Geneva Health Forum was held in 2008, with a focus on the strengthening of health systems and the global health workforce. The third edition in 2010 ‘Globalization, Crisis, and Health Systems: Confronting Regional Perspectives’, focused on identifying sustainable responses to crises, placing emphasis on lessons learned from local and regional initiatives. For more information on the past editions, please refer to the evaluation reports of the 2006, 2008 and 2010 Forums. In 2012 the fourth edition of the Geneva Health Forum will be held from 18 - 20 April 2012 and has as theme: 'A Critical Shift to Chronic Conditions: Learning from the Frontliners'.

The Geneva Health Forum was and continues to be designed around the advantages of the international dimensions of Geneva, Switzerland. The city, deemed the ‘world capital of health’, has a long history of humanitarianism and humanitarian health action. It is also one of the major centres of international diplomacy and governance and has been home to the World Health Organization since its creation. At the same time Geneva provides the meeting place for dialogue and counsel in the areas of trade and economics, as well as science and technology.

The Geneva Health Forum, in this historical and social setting supports innovative and open discussion. The Geneva Health Forum intends to keep global health debates pragmatic and grounded in action and results. We do so by mobilising actors from the field, the frontliners, whose experiences, know-how and solutions in progress, grounded in specific realities, can bring valuable insights to global health debates.

The Conference as well as the Global Access to Health Platform online, are founded on the principles of equality of opinion. They aim to create a productive venue – whether that be at the conference or on the web – where critical reflexion and constructive debate facilitates infusion of global health issues with grounded experiences, whether the accounts come from the local level, the national level or developing policy at the international level. Both the conference and the platform place particular emphasis on facilitating participation from low and lower-middle income countries. 

The 2010 edition of the Geneva Health Forum took place from 19-21 April 2010. Click here for the GHF 2010 evaluation report

Dernière modification le 26/07/2011