From Bench to All the World's Children: Developing and Delivering Better Health for Every Child - May 2010, Vancouver

PGPR's tenth symposium was held May 3, 2010 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS). The session focused on the critical issue of health program implementation in developing countries. The presentations below represent the expert talks given during at year's symposium and provide an overview of the problems, issues and instances of work that is being done. The symposium also featured platform presentation from selected abstracts on this and other global child health topics.

Also see Workshop Information for details on the follow-up workshop held on May 4, 2010.

2010 PGPR Award address

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This presentation is an address by Dr. Robert Black, recipient of the 2010 PGPR Award for Outstanding Contributions to Global Child Health. Dr. Black discusses his work on the role of zinc therapy in the treatment and prevention of diarrhea in developing countries. He also reviews the use of oral rehydration solutions in developing countries and the improvement in diarrhea management with newer lower osmolality solutions. Dr. Black describes the clinical trials in developing countries which have proven zinc's positive impact on the duration of diarrhea and in reducing mortality. - Alvin Zipursky, M.D., Chair and Scientific Director, PGPR

1. 

   Implementation Science: Putting Knowledge Into Action

   
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   This presentation is a keynote address by Dr. Roger Glass. Dr. Glass focuses on implementation science and the problem of implementing health measures. He cites multiple instances where health measures are known but implementation has failed. He stresses the many factors that affect implementation of health measures including environment, education, economy, food, government action etc. All these have to be considered in implementing the many programs necessary to deal with major health inequities responsible for the deaths of millions. Dr. Glass speaks for the Fogarty International Centre and cites the current commitment of the United States government to these goals. - Alvin Zipursky, M.D., Chair and Scientific Director, PGPR

2. 

   Developing Community Case Management for Pneumonia in Developing Countries; Including Challenges

   
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   This presentation is by Dr. Shamin Qazi. In it he discusses the development of community case management for pneumonia in developing countries. Dr. Qazi describes the problem of childhood pneumonia -- responsible for over a million deaths a year. The immediate solution to the problem is community case management i.e. training non-professionals in a community to diagnose and treat pneumonias. Dr. Qazi discusses the success of this approach and the need for government support to ensure implementation. - Alvin Zipursky, M.D., Chair and Scientific Director, PGPR

3. 

   The Challenge of Implementating the Global Sickle Cell Disease Network

   
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   This presentation is by Dr. Isaac Odame. In it he discusses the purpose and challenge of implementing The Global Sickle Cell Disease Network. He describes Sickle Cell Disease and its manifestations as a major global public health problem. He goes on to discuss the importance of engaging the global community of professionals interested in Sickle Cell Disease in this single Network in order to collaboratively establish goals and develop programs. Through the Network research resources available in high income countries can be used to work with experts, communities and programs in low income countries to serve the millions of people suffering from this serious disease. - Alvin Zipursky, M.D., Chair and Scientific Director, PGPR

4. 

   One Million Neonatal Deaths: Complete Community Data for Priority Setting

   
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   This presentation is by Dr. Diego Bassani. In it he describes a study carried out in collaboration with the government of India in which all homes in many communities in India were systematically and continuously canvassed to determine the number of neonatal deaths and the causes of those deaths. It is the first detailed study of childhood mortality involving all homes in select regions. This type of information is essential for setting health priorities and determining appropriate action aimed at reducing neonatal mortality. - Alvin Zipursky, M.D., Chair and Scientific Director, PGPR

5. 

   The Prevention of Prematurity, Neonatal Dealths and Stillbirths: the GAPPS Program

   
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   This presentation is by Dr. Craig Rubens. He describes the global health problem posed by prematurity -- the major cause of neonatal mortality. He also explains that in developing countries there are more than 3.5 million stillbirths a year. The Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirths (GAPPS) was formed to focus on these problems. Dr. Rubens describes how GAPPS will lead a collaborative, global effort to increase awareness and accelerate innovative research and interventions that will improve maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes. The program involves hundreds of individual researchers and organizations all working in maternal-child health. Dr. Rubens emphasizes that this interdisciplinary research is required to solve these difficult problems. - Alvin Zipursky, M.D., Chair and Scientific Director, PGPR

6. 

   RH Hemolytic Disease in Developing Countries: Facing the Threat

   
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   I presented this talk at the May 2010 PGPR Symposium. In it I review the problem of Rh disease and its successful prevention through the administration of anti-Rh gamma globulin to women during and after an Rh positive pregnancy, preventing these mothers from developing iso-immunization with the development of anti-Rh antibodies. Using data on the distribution of anti-Rh gamma globulin I am able to predict that, annually, in developing countries over one million Rh negative women do not receive prophylaxis with anti-Rh gamma globulin. This results in over 100,000 cases of Rh hemolytic disease of the newborn. Thus, while this disease is being successfully prevented in high income countries it remains a major public health problem in low income countries. - Alvin Zipursky, M.D., Chair and Scientific Director, PGPR

7. 

   May 2010 - The Significant Challenges in Scaling up Interventions that Work: the Case of Micronutrient Powders (Sprinkles) - image

   
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   Presentation by Dr. Stanley Zlotkin , SickKids at the PGPR symposium May 3, 2010.