Chronic Diseases and HIV AIDS – Olivier Raynaud

Olivier Raynaud is Guest Blogging for the Forum. He is the Senior Director, Global Health and Healthcare Sector, World Economic Forum.

Re-bonjour! Day 2 was another great day, as two major global health challenges, HIV/AIDS and Chronic Diseases were prominent on our Davos agenda. In both sessions, the importance of prevention versus treatment was stressed, as well as the crucial role of leaders, be they from governments, business, international or non-governmental organizations. Over 25 million people have died from AIDS since it was first reported in 1981.

The HIV/AIDS session title was “HIV/AIDS, Lessons for the Future” and purposely so to emphasize the need to build on the good practices and successes used to combat the HIV/AIDS, to inform the battle against chronic diseases. Key learnings include integration of HIV interventions with other health programs, the need to address the underlying causes of the disease – above all : poverty – to leverage new technologies, to include youth and those that are most affected in designing solutions and to “customize” the communication to target populations, for example using social networks with younger generations.

Overall participants agreed that while there is hope and progresses, yet without additional collaboration and cooperation among all actors of society, “one would never see the light at the end of the tunnel”. I was thrilled when I heard Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon state in a plenary session that “all industries could help promote healthy lifestyles”, as this is precisely the focus and message that the Forum is promoting. He reminded the audience that he has called on a Special UN Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases, a unique opportunity to help the world realize the global economic threat that non-communicable diseases represent ; I was delighted as the Forum is committed to help in tackling this issue, with a particular emphasis on showcasing the role that the private sector can play, either in its capacity of employer – with workplace wellness program – and/or as provider with healthier products or services.

Finally, we announced, in a private event, the formation of the “International Partnership for Innovative Healthcare Delivery” – that brings together innovators, regulators, investors and policy makers from public and private sectors in a partnership. This partnership will allow for the scaling up and replication of successful innovative models which deliver care in challenging, namely resource constraints environments. A demain!