HIV/AIDS has had a tremendous impact on African health systems. In some cases, entire generations have been heavily impacted. In 2006, Ethiopia decided to start a new approach, one of universal health care to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We talked with Yibeltal Assefa of the Medical Services Directorate, Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play an important part in modern medicine. However, in rural African communities, the ability of medical professionals to access these new technologies is limited. The purpose of this session was to present the methods and findings of several recent projects in rural Africa and to identify ways of improving access to telemedicine services in future.

A view on ethics and practice in clinical trials from the standpoint of an international body, a training group, a national authority and a pharmaceutical company

An interview with World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Medical Officer, Dominique Legros, about lessons learned during the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009. SARS, Avian Flu and now H1N1 - what changed?

With 20% of global citizens being defined as adolescent, it is vital to provide appropriate health services to this large population. Accordingly, it is essential that medical organisations develop programmes to ensure that these individuals develop into adulthood safely, thus providing for our global future.

The primary mission of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is to provide global health governance. But with an increasing number of powerful stakeholders in the health arena, the WHO has lost its leading role. A panel of former staff members try to analyse why and to propose changes and solutions.

Highlighting the importance of community participation in the development of primary healthcare, the session considered degrees of participation in relation to social and political issues. Utilizing these participatory approach strategies, participants discussed the issues raised in groups prior to launching into an overview of the topic.

Are Global Health Initiatives (GHIs) helping or harming local health care systems in poor countries? This session described the present and the future funding of GHIs, highlighting three areas: the experiences and lessons of Ethiopia, the new integrated platform introduced by the Global Health Fund (GHF) and the trends of long-term impact of the availability of aid.

In response to the alarming increase in global antibiotic resistance, resulting in increasing numbers of deaths and non-treatable infections, countries have been forced to prioritise the need to find solutions for this. There have recently been far more active discussions pertaining to future policies; however, there is still a difficulty in deciding the key priorities and actions needed.

The Millennium Development Goals call for universal access to health, including essential medicines. Some 4.8 billion people are currently estimated to benefit from access to essential medicines, leaving some 2 billion still unable to access them. The Accountability and Access to Essential Medicines: Global Perspectives session examined some factors impacting access to medicines and their availability. The impact of the recent global recession was put under the microscope, as was the pharmaceutical industry's performance, based on a new indexing and ranking tool. The differences in availability of medicines for chronic versus acute diseases were also examined. Finally, Thailand provided a case study of how policy development can increase access. The session emphasised the need for a participatory approach, involving all stakeholders, in increasing access to essential medicines.