It was jointly hosted by the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) and the Indian Public Health Association (IPHA)
Kolkata recently hosted the 14th World Congress on Public Health (WCPH) at the city’s Science City auditorium. Kolkata last hosted the Congress in 1981.
The Congress aimed to contribute towards protecting and promoting public health at global, continental, and national levels and to create a better understanding of India’s public health challenges within global public health.
The 14th WCPH was jointly hosted by the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) and the Indian Public Health Association (IPHA). Every three years, the WCPH brings together participants from a wide range of public health disciplines from many countries around the world. The focus of this year’s edition was ‘Healthy People – Healthy Environment’ and was attended by nearly 2,000 participants.
Speaking at the inaugural session, Dr Madhumita Dobe, Organising Secretary, 14th WCPH, 2015 said, “Twelve Congresses have taken place so far and the opportunity comes to India after a long hiatus of more than 30 years, during which the global public health scenario has changed with a lot of exciting initiatives. The 14th World Congress on Public Health with its theme of ‘Healthy People-Healthy Environment’- is expected to provide opportunities to the global public health community to get together and deliberate on important issues. It will also serve as a platform to showcase India’s efforts and for sharing knowledge and experiences of public health professionals from over the world. There will be sharing of experiences, knowledge exchanges, debate, discussion and learning about effective policies, programmes and best practices in support of the public’s health.”
Dr Mengistu Asnake, President of WFPHA & Co-Chair of the WCPH Scientific Committee, recalled that Kolkata was playing host to WCPH for the second time, after a gap of more than three decades. He also recalled the contributions of legendary stalwarts like Roland Ross and others who worked towards conquering vector-borne diseases. He then talked about the upcoming sustainable development goals in order to achieve the highest standards of health worldwide. Dr Asnake went on to note the already achieved successes, namely the significant reduction in tobacco use, lowered maternal deaths and eradication of vaccine preventable diseases like polio. He also mentioned WCPH’s solidarity in standing by the victims of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa where over 25,000 people lost their lives, including nearly 9000 children.
Dr Asnake stated that he believes public health should be an agenda of not only health professionals but also everybody at large as it is an issue of global concern, especially with increasingly porous borders.
Speaking at the session, James Chauvin, Immediate Past President WFPHA & ICOC Co-Chair -WCPH, recalled the first WCPH held in West Germany in 1975, which consisted of just a few hundred people. He recounted excerpts from the proceedings of the first Congress and reflected on the current goals of WCPH – achieving the highest levels of health worldwide, while ensuring that everyone gets to enjoy basic human rights irrespective of their gender, race or creed.
Dr J Ravi Kumar, IPHA President and ICOC Co-Chair – WCPH, called for the need to clean our environment. “Eighty per cent of common illness are preventable, with a cleaner environment,” he said.
CK Mishra, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and MD – NHRM in his plenary address stated that public health remains a key issue globally with new challenges like climate change giving rise to new diseases. He advocated the creation of an atmosphere of wellness, and healthcare in place of hospital care.
He noted that health professionals won’t be able to make a difference alone as there are several other factors like education and awareness. Following this, he mentioned the two major challenges existing currently: health inequality across the globe and inefficiences in the ways of delivering health services, with another problem being the fact that non communicable diseases (NCDs) are on the rise and that they cause more than 60 per cent mortality in India. Maternal and child health were also mentioned as immediate concerns.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO-SEARO, who was the ‘Guest of Honour’, in her speech mentioned the key pillars in the field of public health while stating that the 21st century public health requires a 21st century approach. She mentioned that the NCDs have been costing the South-East Asian countries in trillions and that the Ebola outbreak was a major wake up call for the developing countries.
Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary General, Commonwealth of Nations & Chief Guest for the occasion spoke of the digital context in the field of public health and the very pertinent issue of the convergence of resources in order to achieve maximum efficiency in terms of health services among the Commonwealth countries.
For the first time, BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were represented as a group at the global conference. Brazil was the partner country of the event.
“Those are major emerging economies of the world and it is very important to have them as part of the discussion and solutions. So that is why we need to have them,” said Chauvin.
“We want to see countries like India, Ethiopia and South Africa able to define what they see as the solutions and that they are not dictated to by other countries,” Chauvin added.
According to Asnake, one of the latest concerns is linking the growing economy to the health needs in these countries. “Earlier, most of the problems were related to communicable diseases. But, with growing economy and changes in lifestyle, non-communicable diseases (heart diseases and diabetes) are becoming more prevalent. The care given in these economies is not comparable to more developed countries,” said Asnake.
Dr Vishvas Chaudhary was felicitated with the ‘Dr Hugh R Leavell Award’ at the inaugural session of the Congress, in recognition of his contribution to the eradication of polio in India. He later delivered the Hugh Leavell lecture.
The Congress hosted several plenaries, workshops, concurrent sessions, oral and poster presentations, and different exhibitions on public health. The 3rd International Students’ Meet on Public Health (ISMOPH 2015), the satellite event was also held concurrently with the main Congress.
Thematic and concurrent sessions of the Congress included: public health services in India – progress and prospects; enteric and diarrheal diseases; measles elimination; universal health coverage; the story of water sanitation and hygiene (WASH); public health in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health; maternal death surveillance and response; heath systems development – priorities for public health (India); Japanese encephalitis and many others. On environment, there were sessions on health impacts of energy choices and environmental determinants of health.
Reportedly, the scientific sessions and the solutions platform exhibition generated great interest among the delegates and participants. It presented an interactive arena for disseminating information on various initiatives and solutions that have positively impacted public health.
The 15th World Congress on Public Health will be held in Melbourne, Australia in 2017.