Addis Ababa hosts World Congress on Public Health

Addis Ababa hosts World Congress on Public Health

The 13th World Congress on Public Health is being held at the Millennium Hall in Addis Ababa, from 23-27 April, under the theme “Moving towards Global Health Equity: Opportunities and threats”.

The international forum provides a platform for the exchange of knowledge and debate on key public health issues, and is designed to contribute towards protecting and promoting public health at global, continental and national levels.

The central discussions will focus on the achievement of health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their target date of 2015. Agreed by all UN member states, the eight international goals include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality rates, improving maternal health, and combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Malaria.

Other important topics scheduled for discussion this year are global health equity, armed conflict and health impacts, maternal and child health, strengthening capacity building for public health, and pandemic and disaster preparation.

The summit is expected to attract about 3,000 public health researchers, experts, educators and policy makers from around the world.

It is the first time the event has been held in Africa since the 1997 conference in Arusha, Tanzania.