ARTICLE - SOCIAL MEDICINE CONFERENCE

CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL MEDICINE
(Haiti Libre) -

In partnership with the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the State University of Haiti (FMP-UEH) and residents of social service of the Group Promoter of Social Medicine (GPMS), Zanmi Lasante, sister organization of Partners In Health (PIH) in Haiti, organized March 28-29, a conference on social medicine. This conference highlights the opportunities to support the reinforcement of public health in Haiti with ideas and policies informed by the field of social medicine, with an emphasis on understanding how social and economic conditions impact health, disease and the practice of medicine.

The National Conference on Social Medicine, was held at the convention center at the Hotel Karibe, and offered an interactive forum to exchange and share effective strategies for the distribution of health care, as well as education and training of health professionals who submitted the needs of people living in disadvantaged communities. By bringing together the parties involved and experts in global health and development, the conference helped, first, to promote the exchange of views and lessons learned, promoting dialogue on approaches aimed at capacity building of health systems in limited resources, and will encourage partnerships to develop innovative approaches to strengthen human resources in health.

The speakers included experts in the field of health and development, policy makers, leaders of different sectors and presenters; "keynotes" Paul E. Farmer, MD, PhD, Co-Founder of Partners In Health; Kolokotrones University Professor, Harvard University; Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Joia S. Mukherjee, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, Partners In Health; Associate Professor, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Gladys Prosper, MD, Dean of the Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie de l’Université d’Etat d'Haïti.

The discussions scheduled addressed key issues related to the global health theme of the conference. The goals and objectives of these sessions were to analyze and look more closely at the determinants of health and to improve education and medical training in a social context. These sessions helped to analyze the social determinants of health to inform the curriculum of medical education, and to improve training in a social context.