Beijing to Host Ninth International Congress of WFPHAThe Ninth International Congress of the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) will be held in Beijing this September.Over 1,000 public health officials and experts from all over the world will attend the five-day event, representatives of the organizing committee announced in Beijing over the weekend. Organized by the World Federation of Public Health Associations, the meeting is held every three years and is designed to promote global public health development. The federation chose to have the meeting in China because of the country's tremendous achievements in health care, said Margaret Hilson, president of the federation. Hilson is now in Beijing inspecting preparations for the congress. Focusing on a theme of "meeting public health challenges in the 21st century,'' participants will discuss global health issues including economy, poverty, the environment, disease control, ageing, nutrition and reproductive health. While summing up major public health achievements and problems in the 20th century, participants will also study difficulties, challenges and solutions of future public health problems. Led by the Ministry of Health, the China Preventive Medicine Association and the China Academy of Preventive Medicine are sponsoring the congress. Eight UN branches, including the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, and 43 governmental departments and research institutes in China are committed to supporting the congress. Established in 1967 and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Federation of Public Health Associations is a union of various scientific research institutes and associations. The federation won recognition from World Health Organization in 1970 and has established formal relations with a number of international organizations. So far, public health associations from 60 countries have contributed to the federation, the China Preventive Medicine Association became a member in 1998. Officials said the federation's aim is to provide channels for co-operation between governments and non-governmental organizations and international health institutes to promote public health. Federation members collect and analyze effective public health policies and publish the results among the member countries. |
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