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Global meeting of minds to exchange achievements, best practices and ideas for innovations in health care.
Kerala, which has been making great strides in comprehensive primary health care, has an impressive array of social development indicators
and ensures universal access to health care for all citizens. At a time when the state is facing higher morbidity due to demographic transition and non-communicable diseases (NCD), especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Kerala’s Aardram Mission aims at achieving the Goal 3 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Department of Health and Family Welfare is organising a five-day webinar series on ‘Making the SDG a reality.’
Policy makers, public health experts, academicians, frontline warriors and civil society from across the globe join hands to engage in dialogues, facilitate cross learnings and devise future strategies on transforming primary health care, maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases and communicable diseases.
The webinars would revolve around myriad subjects that help people gain access to quality health services, identify the strength and weakness of the global public health system in the wake of a never-before-seen crisis and guarantee the wellbeing of citizens.
Brainstorming sessions on universal health coverage (UHC), rapid health system responses, public health investment, delaying or preventing premature deaths from NCDs, achieving the new agenda of SDGs in the wellbeing of women and children and the progress made so far in elimination of tuberculosis.
The conference theme this year is ‘Making the SDG a reality' and is planned on five days during February and March 2020 – each day dedicated to a specific thematic area like transforming primary health care, maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases and communicable diseases.
The conference aims to bring policy makers, program managers, health experts, public health intervention specialists, academicians, front line fighters and civil society across the globe to share the experiences, facilitate cross learnings and plan for future to achieve the SDGs.
The conference has been been planned with the following segments :
The Conference is expected to result in a concise Monographs on respective themes. It is expected that the outcome document will be endorsed by the participants of the Conference.
Time (IST) | Event | Dignitaries |
|---|---|---|
16.00–17.00 Hrs. | Inauguration | |
Welcome |
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Presidential Address |
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Inauguration |
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Keynote Address |
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Special Address |
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Vote of Thanks |
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Time (IST) | Event | Dignitaries |
|---|---|---|
17.00-18.00Hrs | Oration: 2021-2030: Challenges in health sector & preparedness |
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18.00-18.40Hrs | Kerala Experience of UHC |
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18.40-19.10Hrs | Progress in UHC at Thailand |
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19.10-20.00Hrs | Panel Discussion: Universal Health Coverage- outlook for developing countries Moderator:
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Time (IST) | Event | Dignitaries |
|---|---|---|
17.00- 17.50 Hrs | Inauguration |
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Chief Guest’s Address: COVID-19: Health System Global Response |
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17.50-18.10 Hrs | India’s Fight against COVID- Role of ICMR |
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18.10-18.40 Hrs | Kerala's Response to COVID |
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18.40-19.00 Hrs | Crisis leadership & Workforce resilience |
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Interaction: Dr. Tony Lawrence, Asst. Professor, Community Medicine, Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram | ||
19.00-19.40Hrs | Panel Discussion: Pandemic & Preparedness Moderator:
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19.40-20.15 Hrs | Preparedness at District level Moderator:
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Time (IST) | Event | Dignitaries |
|---|---|---|
17.00- 17.20 Hrs | Inauguration |
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17.20-17.40 Hrs | Achieving the SDGs related to Maternal and Child Health |
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17.40-18.00 Hrs | MMR reduction-Kerala Experience |
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18.00-18.15 Hrs | MMR reduction- Field success story to bring in connect of policy with the interventions. |
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18.15-18.45 Hrs | IMR reduction- Kerala Experience |
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18.45-19.00 Hrs | IMR reduction - Field success story to bring in connect of policy with the interventions. |
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19.00-20.15 Hrs | Panel discussion: Accelerating the reduction of Maternal & Infant Mortality in developing countries Moderator:
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Time (IST) | Event | Dignitaries |
|---|---|---|
17.00- 17.20 Hrs | Inauguration |
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17.20-17.50 Hrs | Achieving the SDGs related to NCD |
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17.50-18.30 Hrs | Experience Sharing-Other NCD |
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18.30-19.00 Hrs | Cancer Care in Kerala District Cancer Control Project Ernakulam |
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19.00- 19.40 Hrs | Panel Discussion: Prevention of Cancer through Primary Health Care Moderator:
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19.40-20.00 Hrs | Achieving SDGs related to Cancer- Challenges |
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Time (IST) | Event | Dignitaries |
|---|---|---|
17.00-17.03 Hrs | Welcome |
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17.03-18.00 Hrs | People's movement against TB in Kerala |
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18.00-18.10 Hrs | Special Address |
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18.10-18.30 Hrs | Case Finding in Vietnam |
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18.30- 19.20 Hrs | Panel Discussion
Moderator: Dr Sreenivas A Nair Regional Advisor, Stop TB Strategy Partnership |
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19.20-19.30 Hrs | TB Elimination in India- Way Forward |
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Closing Session | ||
19.30-19.35 Hrs | Welcome |
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19.35-19.45 Hrs
| Special Address |
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19.45-19.55 Hrs | Special Address |
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19.55-20.05 Hrs | Special Address |
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20.05-20.15Hrs | Vote of Thanks |
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Government of Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram, India
Dr Vishwas Mehta IAS is a Post Graduate in Geology (Hons), MBA in Marketing Management and PhD in Cultural Tourism Management and joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1986 in Kerala Cadre. He had worked as Sub Collector, Deputy Secretary, District Collector, Managing Director of several government companies and as Director in the Ministry of Culture & Tourism in Govt of India.
Currently, he is the chief secretary of the Kerala State Government and chairman of Coastal shipping and inland navigation corporation, was born in 1961 in Dungarpur town in Udaipur division of Southern Rajasthan. A top bureaucrat, Dr Mehta, an IAS officer of the 1986 batch, started his tenure as Kollam Assistant Collector in June 1987 and continued in the post till June 1988. Subsequently, he served as the Sub Collector at Wayanad district, Kerala. Dr Mehta took over as Deputy Secretary in the Revenue Department in 1991, and in 1992 he became Managing Director of the Kerala State Cooperative Rubber Marketing Federation. He has also served as District Collector of Wayanad and as the Managing Director of Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation. He has officiated as Secretary Health & Family Welfare, Principal Secretary Revenue, and Additional Chief Secretary Home and Water Resources. At the central deputation, Dr Mehta held positions, including the joint secretary of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Senior directing staff of National Defence College and Director in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Shri Rajesh Bhushan IAS is currently the Union Secretary to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. He was the officer on special duty in MOHFW since April 2020. He is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service from the 1987 batch borne on the Bihar cadre. Prior to joining MoHFW, he was Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development and in the Cabinet Secretariat. In more than 3 decades of public service, both in the State and Union Governments, Rajesh Bhushan has served as an Administrator and Policy-Maker, and has held a wide range of assignments in the fields of Information, Education, Transport, Rural Development and Health. He has also served for more than 2 years in the Cabinet Secretariat where he gained valuable exposure through assisting the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and the main Cabinet.
Dr Viroj Tangcharoensathien is a senior expert in Health Economics at the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, and advisor to its International Health Policy Program, where he also heads the research hub for the Asia Pacific Observatory. He supports the implementation of universal health coverage in a number of countries. Trained in medicine, he served for nine years in rural district hospitals in a poor province of Thailand and received the ‘Best Rural Doctor’ award in 1986 from the Thai Medical Association. In 1990 he received a PhD in health planning and financing at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He won the Woodruff Medal in 1991 for his PhD thesis on community health financing and the Edwin Chadwick Medal in 2011 for his contributions to improve health systems in the interests of the poor. He has published 155 scientific articles. Dr Tangcharoensathien chaired the negotiations of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, adopted by the Sixty-third World Health Assembly.
Dr Peter Singer is Special Advisor to the Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and Assistant Director General of the World Health Organization. Before joining WHO as Special Advisor to the Director General, Dr. Peter Singer from Canada co-founded two innovative, results driven, social impact organizations. From 2008-2018 Singer was Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada. From 1996-2006 he was Sun Life Financial Chair and Director of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. He was also Professor of Medicine at University of Toronto and Senior Scientist at University Health Network. In 2007, Dr. Singer received the Michael Smith Prize as Canada’s Health Researcher of the Year in Population Health and Health Services. In 2011, Singer was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions to health research and bioethics, and for his dedication to improving the health of people in developing countries. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (where he was also Foreign Secretary), the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, and The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS). As a researcher, Dr. Singer published over 300 articles, received over $50 million in research grants, and mentored hundreds of students. He studied internal medicine at University of Toronto, medical ethics at University of Chicago, public health at Yale University, and management at Harvard Business School. He served his community as Board Chair of Branksome Hall, an internationally minded school for girls.
Dr Luigi D’Aquino is the Chief of Health, UNICEF India. Over nearly 20 years of work in the international development sector, Dr Luigi has gained vast experience in contributing to the design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of maternal, new born and child health policies and programs through either long-term assignment (Angola, Cambodia, Sudan, Mozambique), or through short term pieces of technical assistance to numerous countries in Africa and Asia. Dr Luigi has developed sound, hands-on technical knowledge in the area of health systems strengthening maternal, new-born and child health, including: community health; immunization; new born and child health; emergency relief. He has a clear understanding of the processes and dynamics influencing the design and the implementation of policies, and substantial experience in facilitating the coordination between key stakeholders such as governments, donors, UN agencies, and civil society organizations. Also, he has a good domain of the key principles of quantitative and qualitative research, including economic analysis; principles of epidemiology; monitoring and evaluation of health programs.
Ms K Sujatha Rao is the former Secretary of Health and Family Welfare, the Government of India. She was a civil servant from the Andhra Pradesh cadre of Indian Administrative Service and served the nation for 36 long years. Ms Rao was the secretary to the Department of AIDS Control and during the period from 2006 to 2009, was the Director-General of the National AIDS Control Organization.
She was a Mason fellow at Harvard University where she did her post-graduate degree in Public Administration and was a Takemi Fellow for International Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Presently, Ms Rao holds the first Gro Harlem Brundtland Senior Leadership Fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health.
During her 20-year tenure at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, her contributions to the health sector are commendable, bringing qualitative changes in the National AIDS control programme, the first-ever national programme for non-communicable disease, development of a national policy for antibiotic use and vaccination programmes in public health is a few to mention.
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove is an infectious disease epidemiologist. Van Kerkhove specializes in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases with a background in high-threat pathogens and is based in the Health Emergencies Program at the World Health Organization (WHO). She is the technical lead of COVID-19 response and the head of emerging diseases and zoonosis unit at WHO. In 2009, she earned a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Van Kerkhove was a senior research fellow in the Medical Research Council Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial College London from 2009 to 2015. She specialized in Ebola, influenza, meningitis, MERS-CoV, and yellow fever. From 2015 to 2017, Van Kerkhove was the head of the Outbreak Investigation Task Force at the Institut Pasteur’s Center for Global Health, conducting field research into surrounding zoonoses, respiratory viruses and emerging/re-emerging viruses such as Zika, MERS-CoV, Ebola and Marburg. She specialized in field research to gather data on the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 (HPAI/H5N1), with a focus on transmission risk from poultry to humans
Dr Gandham N V Ramana is a Lead Health Specialist and was a program leader for the World Bank country office of Kenya, Rwanda, and Eretria. He was the Lead Public Health Specialist, Africa Region Nairobi and also at The World Bank, New Delhi (May 1998-July 2009). A public health physician with expertise in leading complex high-level policy dialogue in Human Development in Developing countries. He has strong operational experience in designing and supporting the implementation of innovative health systems reform programs in India, Ethiopia, Kenya and anglophone Africa, covering wide-ranging areas including reproductive, maternal, new born and child health, and results-based financing; supply chain management; universal health coverage. Dr Ramana has excellent hands-on, integrative skills as Program Leader for a large cluster of World Bank Group Global Practices with a substantive program of over US$ Two Billion lending and analytical work covering Health Nutrition Population, Education, Social Protection, Agriculture and Environment sectors in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. He has authored over 15 analytical papers/reports and prepared several policy briefs covering wide-ranging health systems, disease burden, and cost-effectiveness of interventions. He undertook policy research and led several training programs in health systems management for senior policymakers and program managers as a faculty at the Administrative Staff College of India. He has supported capacity building in health sector governance and accountability for senior policymakers in Africa organized by the World Bank in partnership with JICA and AMRE.
Dr T Jacob John is a renowned paediatrician-cum-virologist and is the former Professor and Head, Department of Clinical Virology and Microbiology, Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore, Tamil Nadu. He was also the chief of the Virology service of CMC from 1967 till 1995. Dr Jacob John is the former Director; Head of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Centre of Advanced Research in Virology. He has also served as the President of Indian Academy of Paediatrics and Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists and is a fellow Indian National Science Academy. Dr John chaired the India Expert Advisory Group on Polio eradication and co-chaired the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation from 2000 to 2009. He is also chairman/member/advisor of several national committees and international organisations like WHO. He has conducted pioneering research in the fields of infectious diseases, clinical virology, and epidemiology. His discovery of the problem of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) failure in India led to the pioneering of the " Pulse Polio programme and immunisation campaign in India that has led to the elimination of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV) in the country. In 1986, he led the CMC Virology team, which was the first to identify individuals with HIV infection in India. With more than 400 publications to his name, Dr Jacob John is a distinguished force in India for infectious diseases. Since the novel coronavirus pandemic came to India, Dr John has been a vocal advocate of more public health surveillance, smarter use of diagnostic tests, and government decision-making transparency. He is the recipient of the BC Roy Award for Eminent Medical Man of the year, 1990 and BR Ambedkar Centenary Award, 2002.
Dr Ajit Abraham MBBS, MS, MA (Medical Ethics & Law), FRCS, FRCS (General Surgery) was trained as a general surgeon in Pune, India. He went to the UK in 1993 and trained in hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgery and liver transplantation in London, mainly at the Royal Free and the Royal London Hospitals. He has been Consultant General, Trauma; HPB Surgeon at the Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS since 2005. He is also an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Queen Mary University London. He is also the Barts Health Trust Undergraduate Dean and the Barts Health Group Co-Chair, The Inclusion Board. He also has over two decades of experience of elective and emergency general surgery including open and minimally invasive approaches to a variety of general surgical conditions such as the groin and incisional hernias, and the acute surgical abdomen. He has expertise in the management of chest, abdomen and pelvic trauma as a trauma surgeon at the Royal London, the first dedicated major trauma centre in the UK. His other areas of interest are clinical leadership, quality improvement and patient safety and he was also the Health Foundation QI Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Harvard from 2011-12, and he has an MA in Medical Ethics & Law from Keele University, UK, 2004. At Barts Health, he was the Clinical Director for Surgery 2010-11, Associate Medical Director for Improvement, Innovation, 2013-14, Executive Group Director for the Surgery & Cancer Clinical Academic Group, 2014-2016. Chair of the Boards of Surgery & Cancer 2017-18, and Barts Health Deputy Chief Medical Officer 2016 -18. On surgical sabbatical 2018-19, he re-established and led the HPB surgical service at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore delivering open and minimally invasive hepato-biliary and pancreatic surgical care to the local population. He is the Principal of The Staff College for Leadership in Healthcare. He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals in the fields of HPB & general surgery and contributed to chapters in major medical and surgical textbooks, and has been involved in teaching and training at all levels including for the MBBS, the intercollegiate FRCS, and RCS courses. He has a longstanding ‘Hatha Vinyasa’ Yoga and ‘Vipassana’ meditation practice.
Mr. David Wilson is a Program Director in the Health Nutrition and Population practice at the World Bank. He is Team Leader for the COVID-19 Fast Track Facility and the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund. David has worked in approximately 65 countries on all continents. He has published over 100 scientific papers. He was also the World Bank’s Global HIV/AIDS Program Director. He was previously a Professor at the University of Zimbabwe for almost 20 years and an adviser to many governments and most bilateral and multilateral agencies. David holds a PhD specifically on AIDS and has published widely on AIDS. Many of the programs he developed have been cited as global best practices.
Dr Navjyot Khosa IAS is currently the District Collector of Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala. She is an IAS officer in Kerala Cadre (2012). She started her career in public administration as the assistant collector in Thrissur and has served in various positions like Managing Director, Kerala Medical Services Corporation and Food Safety Commissioner.
Mr. Suhas Shivanna IAS is currently the District Collector of Ernakulam, Kerala. Mr. Suhas, IAS started off his career as the Assistant Collector of Ernakulam. He was the collector for Alappuzha district. He has received the best project officer award for the Smart City project.
Dr Adeela Abdulla IAS is currently the District Collector of Wayanad District, Kerala. After working as a Sub-Collector Trainee in Kannur District, she served as Sub-Collector of Tirur in Malappuram District and later as CEO, Life Mission, Kerala.
Dr Gagandeep Kang is a medical researcher and virologist. Professor Kang is Professor of Microbiology, at the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory, Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences at the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore. From 2016 to 2020, Dr Gagandeep Kang had been the Executive Director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. She is on many review committees and advisory committees for national and international research funding agencies and organisations mostly related to vaccines. She chairs the WHO South-East Asian Region’s Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group. She has received honorary appointments as the associate faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland and Adjunct Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr Gagandeep Kang became the first Indian woman to receive the Royal Society of London’s prestigious fellowship in 2019. She was awarded the prestigious Infosys Prize in Life Sciences in 2016 for her life-long research on rotavirus and other infectious diseases. She is also the recipient of Lourdu Yeddanapalli Award for Excellence in Research (2005) and woman Bioscientist award of the Year 2006. She has over 300 high impact scientific publications to credit and has been a member of editorial committees of several prestigious journals like PLoS neglected Tropical Diseases. She has been instrumental in combining various field epidemiology aspects with intensive laboratory investigations and a pivotal contributor to rotavirus epidemiology and vaccinology in India. Her research largely influenced India’s policy on infectious diseases and their mitigation. Dr Kang’s research on rotavirus resulted in the development of Rotavac, a Bharat Biotech International vaccine that targets diarrhoea.
Dr Raman Gangakhedkar M.B.B.S., D.C.H., M.P.H is an epidemiologist and was the Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research. He served as Head Scientist of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research before retiring on 30 June 2020. He worked in the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad and the National Institute of Immunohaematology, Mumbai. In the early 1980s, he began researching HIV/AIDS, at a time when the knowledge of the disease was developing. He worked with the National Institute of Virology and National AIDS Research Institute, Pune. He continued to work in the public sector in HIV/AIDS and was active in developing national policies and patient empowerment. Along with research, he worked with patients at the government-run Kotnis Clinic in Gadikhana, Pune, serving disadvantaged HIV/AIDS patients. After nearly two decades, he became Director-in-charge of the National AIDS Research Institute. In 2018 he was appointed Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Wing of the Indian Council of Medical Research. In his two-year stint with the I.C.M.R., he was active in handling the Nipah virus outbreak and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. He is the Padma Shri recipient for his service and research in HIV/AIDS. Dr Gangakhedkar has also received Fogarty Fellowship – National Institutes of Health the Johns Hopkins University Baltimore U.S.A. and F.X.B. Fellowship – Francoise Xavier Bagnoud Foundation in Switzerland.
Dr Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor is the Health Equity Monitoring Lead at World Health Organization, Geneva. He has conceptualized and coordinated the development of resources and tools in this area including Health Equity Monitor, the WHO global platform for disaggregated health data; WHO Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT), a software application to explore and compare health inequalities; and the WHO Handbook on Health Inequality Monitoring, a comprehensive resource to strengthen and guide the development of health inequality monitoring. Dr Ahmad is also the lead author of a number of peer-reviewed articles quantifying inequalities in health, both at the country-level and the global-level as well as methodological articles such as health inequality decomposition. Dr Ahmad is enthusiastic to use interactive data visualization in order to effectively communicate health data to diverse target audiences. This is showcased in the recent WHO global reports “State of inequality: reproductive, maternal, new born and child health” and “State of inequality: childhood immunization”.
Dr S Sachidananda Kamath is the National President of IAP 2015 and is a Consultant Pediatrician, Indira Gandhi Co-operative Hospital, Ernakulam. Dr Kamath is the lifetime member of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics and Indian Medical Association. He has been involved in the movement against tobacco and was also one of the respondents for the landmark judgment by the Hon’ble High-court of Kerala banning Smoking in public places. He has taken a vital role in converting all the Cochin hospitals to Baby-friendly in 1994 and paved the way for the Kerala Baby-Friendly hospital initiative in 2002. Dr Kamath has taken a significant role in making primary schools of Cochin Corporation Child-Friendly, the completion of which, was declared by Dr Abdul Kalam on 18th November 2008. He has conducted various free medical camps for the needy public. He is the recipient of the fellowship of Indian Academy of Pediatrics FIAP 2000, UNICEF award for making Kerala the first Baby-Friendly State and the Best Doctor Award 2011 by the Government of Kerala.
Dr V P Paily, MD, FRCOG., Senior consultant and HOD, Rajagiri Hospital, Aluva, Kerala. State Coordinator, Confidential Review of Maternal Deaths (CRMD), Kerala. He is the Past President of Kerala Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Formerly, Professor and HOD of Govt Medical College Thrissur. Edited and published the findings of CRMD as two books “Why Mothers Die, Kerala 2004-2005”. He has edited and published the Handbook of CHC Obstetrics upgradation project, Kerala. He has significant publications to his credit as books and scientific articles.
Professor Arnie Purushotham has been a Consultant Academic Surgeon for 25 years having worked in Glasgow, Cambridge and London. He is Professor of Breast Cancer at King’s College London and Consultant Surgeon at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust. He is also the Director of King’s Health Partners Comprehensive Cancer Centre and until recently Senior Clinical Advisor, Cancer Research UK and Medical Director, Tata Trusts Cancer Care Programme.
As a scientific researcher, Professor Purushotham’s goal has been to drive high quality clinical and translational research that directly impacts cancer patients. Key areas of research are patterns of metastatic spread, novel optical intra-operative imaging, window of opportunity trials, prevention and early detection, cancer in low- and middle-income countries and cancer outcomes.
Dr Cherian Varghese works as the cross-cutting lead for NCD and special initiatives in WHO Geneva. He is responsible for cross-cutting areas of work in NCDs, primary health care, ageing and other areas. He spends 50% of his time on the cervical cancer elimination initiative. He holds a medical degree with postgraduate training in radiation oncology from India. He also holds an M Phil., from the University of Cambridge, UK and PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Tampere, Finland.
Dr Varghese worked in clinical oncology and epidemiology in the Regional Cancer Centre in Trivandrum, India for ten years and as a research fellow at the University of Leeds, UK for two years. He joined the WHO country office for India in 2001 in social change and noncommunicable diseases, from 2007 to 2015 he worked at the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, Manila and in the Division of Pacific Technical Support in Fiji. Since 2015 he worked as the coordinator for NCD management in WHO Geneva and moved into the new position in 2020. He has published over 80 articles in the field of NCDs.
Dr. Anil D’Cruz is the president of Union International on Cancer Control, Geneva. He has over 30 years experience in the field of Surgical Oncology focusing primarily on head and neck cancers. His major areas of interest are management of neck metastasis, conservative laryngeal surgery, cancers of the oral cavity, thyroid, quality of life issues and global health. He plays a pivotal role in a number of trials. He was the part president of Foundation of Head and Neck Oncology, India. He is also on the Governing Board/Scientific Advisory Board of various leading institutions such as Gulf Medical University, AIIMS, Rishikesh, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani amongst others. Past-president of the Asian Society of Head & Neck Oncology; Task force, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and Cancer guidelines, Indian Council of Medical Research. He has delivered the prestigious Eugene Myers International Lecture in Head & Neck Cancers at the American Academy of Otolaryngology.Dr D’Cruz has over 200 peer reviewed publications, and chapters to his name. He is an editor of a two-volume book on Head and neck surgery and also the Manual of Clinical Oncology and Hamilton Bailey Clinical Signs.
Dr Thomas R Frieden is an infectious disease and public health physician. He serves as president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a five-year initiative to prevent epidemics and cardiovascular disease. From 1990 to 1992, Frieden worked as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer assigned by the CDC in New York City. From 1992 to 1996, he was assistant commissioner of health and director of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Tuberculosis Control, fostering public awareness and improving city, state and federal public funding for TB control. From 1995 to 2001, Frieden worked as a technical advisor for the World Bank, health and population offices. From 1996 to 2002, Frieden worked in India, as a medical officer for the World Health Organization on loan from the CDC. He helped the government of India implement the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program. Frieden served as Commissioner of Health of the City of New York from 2002 to 2009. Upon his appointment as Commissioner of Health, Frieden made tobacco control 2002 onwards. In May 2009, the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services named Frieden director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Frieden was prominently involved in the US and global response to the West African outbreak of Ebola. Frieden started leading an initiative called " Resolve to Save Lives; in 2017 onwards to prevent cardiovascular disease and epidemics.
Dr. Sevim Ahmedov is a senior TB Technical Advisor at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and providing programmatic backstopping support to USAID Missions in a number of African and Central Asian countries, as well as working on technical areas such as Infection Prevention and Control, TB/HIV, MDR-TB, and TB prevention.
Dr Mohammed Yassin (MD, MSc, PhD) is an infectious disease epidemiologist and international public health expert with 20+ years’ experience in clinical medicine, programme/project design, implementation and management, technical leadership, capacity building, policy/guidance development, coordination and research mainly TB/MDR-TB and TB/HIV and other infectious diseases. He has extensive expertise in designing, implementing and monitoring/evaluation of projects/programmes, strategic investment and prioritization of resources to maximize impact and review of funding requests/proposals. He promotes collaboration/partnership and has worked/collaborated with national programmes in several countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Western Pacific and with technical and financial partners globally.
Dr Lucica Ditiu has been the Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership since May 2011. Lucica Ditiu is a physician and public health expert who has devoted her career to helping and supporting people affected by TB, especially those most vulnerable, most stigmatized and living in impoverished communities. Dr. Ditiu is a specialist in lung diseases and began practicing medicine in 1992 in Romania. Lucica Ditiu has led the Stop TB Partnership for the last 8 years. Under her leadership, the organization has gained a clear identity and evolved into a lean, innovative and progressive team that represents one of the most influential advocacy voices on global health and tuberculosis, providing support – financial as well as TB medicines and diagnostics – for a TB response towards a world without TB. A firm believer in innovation, flexibility and change, Dr. Ditiu is relentless in pushing for the inclusion of all people affected by TB, with an ambitious agenda of transparency and accountability that continuously challenges the status quo.
Dr. Patrick L. Osewe is currently the Chief of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Health Sector Group, providing leadership on all Health Sector Group technical and operational matters. Patrick has been at the forefront of strengthening health systems against the threat of disease outbreaks through innovative, multi-sector approaches for more than 25 years. Prior to his time at ADB, Patrick worked as the World Bank’s Global Lead of Healthy Societies, He received his medical degree from the University of Nairobi and holds a Master’s of Public Health from Harvard University.
Dr Suvanand Sahu is the Deputy Executive Director at the Stop TB Partnership. He is interested in public health and the use of innovative approaches to end major infectious diseases.
Mrs. Divya, who hails from Kerala, finished her 4-year General Nursing and Midwifery course from PD Hinduja College of Nursing, Mumbai in 2009. She then started working at PD Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Mumbai. In 2014, Mrs. Divya left her Mumbai job to do her Masters in Neuroscience at India’s top medical institution (All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi). In 2016, after finishing her post-graduation, Divya got a job as a nursing officer in AIIMS, New Delhi. Mrs Divya is a TB Survivor and a strong ambassador for TB Elimination.
Dr Raghuram Rao, MBBS, DPH is currently the Deputy Additional Director-General at Central TB Division, Government of India, New Delhi. He was instrumental in establishing Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres under the National AIDS Control Program throughout the country.
Dr Sreenivas A Nair is the Regional Technical Advisor of Stop TB Partnership, Geneva. He started his career as a doctor in Kerala State Health Services. Later he joined WHO and became the National Professional Officer (TB) in India and provided the technical assistance for the country to develop the National Strategic Plan for TB Elimination. He has rich experience of two decades in TB Control. He has more than 50 scientific publications to his credit.
