On 15 May 2009, Dr. Suwit Wibulpolprasert, the committee of the Mahidol University Council, Dr. Churnrurtai Kanchanachitra, Vice President for Collaboration and Networking, Prof. Achra Sumboonnanonda, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs of Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital and Prof.Wanicha Chuenkongkaew, Asst. Dean for Academic Affairs of Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, as the member and joint secretariat of Prince Mahidol Award Conference, attended the International Organizing Committee (IOC) meeting of the Prince Mahidol Award Conference / HMN Global Health Information Forum 2010 at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Suwit Wibulpolprasert and co-chaired by Dr. Tim Evans from WHO and Dr. Sally Stansfield from HMN. The aim of the meeting was to discuss about the structure of the Forum, themes and important speakers. This Forum will be co-hosted by the Health Metrics Network (HMN), the Prince Mahidol Award Conference, and the World Health Organization with the support from other International Organizations such as the World Bank, Rockefeller Foundation and China Medical Board. The Forum will be held in Bangkok during 26-30 January 2010 with the theme centered around Global Health Information. The objectives of the Forum are as follows:
1. Firmly position Health Information Systems (HIS) as a strategic driver of health systems strengthening and performance management of broader development outcomes.
2. Broaden and unite the constituency of potential allies behind a shared vision and action plan for HIS strengthening.
3. Showcase HIS progress and capacity-building in developing countries.
4. Secure high-level commitment to drive future action.
This Forum will include three main themes: Technical Solutions, Foundations and Frontiers. The Technical Solutions theme involves those issues relate to the technical methods, tools to measure the outcome of the health systems/programs. The Foundations theme involves those issues relate to the basic foundation of the HIS and Frontiers theme involves those issues relate to the innovative method for collection, measurement or for analysis of information.
At the IOC meeting, Dr. Churnrurtai Kanchanachitra presented the concept note of the Global Health Information Forum. Then the meeting discussed and suggested the structure of the Forum, important speakers, parallel sessions, the process of the ‘Call to Action’, the Exhibition / Marketplace and the calendar of activities. This meeting demonstrates the role of Mahidol University that has been actively involved with global public policy.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th