Speakers Include Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Lee Jong-wook, Ted Turner, Ann Veneman, Paul Farmer, Madeleine Albright, Paul Wolfowitz, Agnes Binagwaho, Rick Warren, Julie Gerberding and Bono
TIME Global Health Summit Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Nov. 1-3, 2005, in New York City
New York, NY– TIME magazine will focus America’s attention on global health during the TIME Global Health Summit, November 1-3, 2005, in New York City. Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the TIME Summit will convene leaders in medicine, government, business, public policy and the arts to develop actions and solutions to health crises.
TIME is partnering with PBS, as well as ABC News, to reach a broad audience. On Monday, October 31, a TIME special issue on global health will hit newsstands, reaching more than 27 million readers around the world. On Nov. 1-3 from 9-11 pm (check local listings), PBS will premiere Rx for Survival ? A Global Health Challenge™, a six-part documentary series narrated by Brad Pitt. The series is co-produced by the WGBH/NOVA Science Unit and Vulcan Productions. Also this fall, ABC News will provide expanded coverage of global health issues. The TIME Summit will be on-the-record and open to credentialed media for news coverage.
"The developed nations of the world can no longer ignore the health crisis faced by millions of people every day," said Jim Kelly, managing editor of TIME magazine. “And the challenges presented by Hurricane Katrina bring home these daunting struggles. With the rapid spread of so many diseases that can be treated—and in many cases prevented—with simple interventions, TIME hopes this summit will inspire American leaders and the general public to commit the necessary resources to stop the needless deaths. This is not an insurmountable task. We have the drugs, the vaccines and the medical knowledge. All we have lacked is the will."
The TIME Global Health Summit Executive Council and Advisory Board, including Bono, Sir Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Ted Turner, have helped to shape the event. The summit will focus on 10 major global health challenges. TIME also will recognize true-life heroes of global health, including men and women working in Africa and Asia.
“The world has never been in a better position to dramatically improve global health,” said Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the major supporter of the TIME Global Health Summit. “We have effective drugs and vaccines, tremendous scientific know-how and growing commitments from the world’s political leaders. I believe that this summit will demonstrate the many ways in which Americans can support the fight for health in the world’s poorest countries.”
10 Challenges of Global Health: The main agenda is built around a series of solutions-oriented debates on the “10 Big Questions of Global Health,” such as “Can Drugs Be Accessible By All?”; “What Must We Learn From The War Against AIDS?”; “How Do We Prepare for the Next Plague?” and “Why Do 10 Million Children Have to Die?” Representatives from many sides of an issue will focus on what works, what does not and how to move forward.
“Our intent is to provide an open forum to produce a real call to action,” said Eileen Naughton, president of TIME. “The TIME Summit will bring together influential leaders from many disciplines - science, business, government and the media - to create a platform that will build optimism and commitments for sustainable improvements in global health.”
Some speakers are may address lessons learned from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the devastating tsunami in Asia and other natural disasters. One session that will address these topics is, “Funding: Who, How Much and What For,” which will question whether the U.S. and other donor nations are spending enough on global health. Acknowledging that the TIME Summit will be held six weeks after the Millennium Development Goals Summit, another session will address the current thinking in Washington on foreign aid. A separate session will examine how faith-based initiatives are changing the global health agenda in Washington.
PBS Broadcast of Rx for Survival: The TIME Global Health Summit will coincide with PBS’s Rx for Survival—A Global Health Challenge™. Anchored by the documentary television series, the Rx for Survival project includes a content-rich global health Web site, online at www.PBS.org/rxforsurvival. Additionally, there are educational resources to promote an awareness of global health for school children, post-secondary students, and in out-of-school settings, and an outreach campaign designed to deepen Americans’ engagement in child survival.
“Global health is one of the most important issues of our time. PBS stations are in a unique position to bring the stories home to Americans and provide community resources to support solutions,” said Pat Mitchell, president of PBS. “In addition to this unprecedented six-part series on global health, PBS has expanded its programming coverage of health issues. Stations will deliver companion outreach campaigns, such as Rx for Child Survival, offering viewers guidelines for how they can directly improve their lives and those of their families, as well as help those who are most vulnerable to the effects of poor public health around the world.”
Location, Programming and Summit Speakers: The TIME Global Health Summit is an invitation-only event at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City, (in the Time Warner Center) and is programmed with the assistance of The Van Heyst Group.
Among the speakers, moderators and participants in the TIME Global Health Summit:
- Madeleine K. Albright, principal, The Albright Group
- Zackie Achmat, chairperson, Treatment Action Campaign
- Carol Bellamy, president, World Learning, SIT
- Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, executive secretary, Rwanda's National Commission to Fight AIDS
- Bono, co-founder, DATA (via satellite)
- Sir Richard Branson, chairman, Virgin Group of Companies
- David Brancaccio, host, PBS NOW (moderator)
- Philip Elmer-DeWitt, sciences editor, TIME magazine (moderator)
- Paul Farmer, member, board of directors, Partners In Health/Program In Infectious Disease and Social Change
- Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president, Institute of Medicine
