Population and global health
Presentation on key trends: Victor Gaigbe-Togbe, Population Division, UN DESA
Moderator and rapporteur: Somnath Chatterji, World Health Organization
Somnath Chatterji currently leads the Surveys, Measurement and Analysis programme in the Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems at the World Health Organization (WHO). He coordinates WHO’s Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) supported by the National Institute on Aging, USA. The measurement of health, well-being and other health-related outcomes, their trends and determinants is the main focus of the international studies of the team. He is a psychiatrist by training and co-directs WHO’s World Mental Health surveys on the epidemiology of mental disorders in 30 countries. He is currently also engaged with the development of the WHO World Bank Model Disability Survey and standardized modules for household health surveys including for the monitoring of universal health coverage.
Panelist: Robert Black, Johns Hopkins University
Robert E. Black, M.D., M.P.H. is Professor and Director of the Institute for International Programs, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. He is trained in medicine, infectious diseases and epidemiology and served as an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and at institutions in Bangladesh and Peru conducting research on childhood infectious diseases and nutrition. His current research includes field trials of vaccines, and nutritional interventions, effectiveness studies of health programs, and evaluation of health services in low- and middle-income countries. His other interests are the use of evidence in guiding policy and programs, including estimates of burden of disease. He chairs the UN Technical Advisory Group of the Interagency Group on Mortality Estimation and serves on advisory groups for the International Vaccine Institute, the icddr,b, and the Nutrition Research Institute and on the governing boards of the Micronutrient Initiative and Vitamin Angels.
Panelist: Prabhat Jha, University of Toronto
Prabhat Jha is the founding director of the Centre for Global Health Research. He is also the Inaugural University of Toronto Endowed Professor in Disease Control, Canada Research Chair at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, co-investigator of the Disease Control Priorities Network, and expert advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on HIV/AIDS control in India and to various governments around the world on disease control strategies. Prior to founding CGHR, Prabhat headed the World Bank team responsible for developing the Second National HIV/AIDS Control Program in India. He also served as a senior scientist for the World Health Organization. Among other projects at CGHR, Prabhat is currently leading one of the world’s largest prospective studies of premature mortality called the Million Death Study. Prabhat has a D.Phil in Epidemiology and Public Health from the University of Oxford and a medical degree from the University of Manitoba.
Panelist: Daniel Kress, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Daniel Kress, is Deputy Director, Integrated Delivery, and focuses on Global Primary Health Care and Health Financing. Dan works on measurement of primary care systems and improving health system performance to improve uptake, coverage and equity for foundation priorities. Dan is a Health Economist and has worked in over 20 countries. Dan began at the foundation as a senior program officer in Global Health Policy and Advocacy and also served as the deputy director for several teams in Global Health. Prior to joining the foundation, Dan worked at the World Bank as Senior Health Economist in the Middle East and North Africa Region. Dan received his doctorate in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also attended the Université d’Aix-Marseille III in Aix-en-Provence, France.