Melbourne is about to be thrust into the spotlight of the global health debate with a UN conference and supporting festival exploring the global health challenge. Accreditation requirements are detailed so if you haven’t accredited please act now and consider if you also need to accredit photographers, crews etc.
Highlights include:
- Melbourne and North Melbourne kicking goals for global health at the ‘G on Sunday
- A prayer service for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
- Writers Festival and business events across the city
And the conference itself with:
- Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of UNAIDS
- Jasmine Whitbread, international head of Save the Children Fund
- Aleida Guevara (Cuba), paediatrician, one of Che Guevara’s daughters (English via translator)
- Sakena Yacoobi (Afghanistan) who hid secret schools for girls from the Taliban
- Catherine Hamlin, an Australian obstetrician from The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital providing free fistula repair surgery to poor women suffering from childbirth injuries.
- Eleanor Nwadinobi, President, Widows Development Organisation, on maternal and child health in Africa
- Harry O’Brien, Collingwood footballer and global health campaigner
- Tim Costello, Bill Bowtell and dozens of other remarkable speakers who can talk about the huge improvements that have been made around the world over the last decade, and the huge gaps that are left.
About the conference
From 30 August Australia will play host to a major UN conference focusing on global health and the Millennium Development Goals.
The conference, entitled Advance Global Health – Achieve the Millennium Development Goals, brings together more than 300 non-governmental organisations from over 70 countries. Some 1,500 delegates will explore the challenges of meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
The conference comes at a critical time:
- for the Millennium Development Goals which have been set back by the global financial crisis. The UN Secretary General has called world leaders to a summit in September to accelerate progress
- and for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which will be seeking a further $20 billion in October.
Officially this Melbourne gathering is the 63rd Annual UN Department of Public Information Non-Governmental Organizations Conference or 63rd UN DPI NGO. It runs from Monday 30 August to Wednesday 1 September.
The conference will provide an impressive array of speakers, many issues relevant to Australia and our region, and lots of human stories that bring the Goals to life.
The official UN conference website is at www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/conference/
Access to the conference is controlled by the United Nations and is essentially limited to accredited delegates and accredited media only.
If you would like to attend the conference as a journalist please apply for accreditation in advance via the media accreditation form at www.un.org/wcm/content/site/ngoconference/media. This process is coordinated by the UN Information Centre in Canberra and is time-consuming.
For further information and interviews
- Niall Byrne, Media Coordinator NGO Media, +61 (417) 131 977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au
- Julia Dean at the UN Information Centre in Canberra, +61 (2) 6270 9205, julia.dean@unic.org
- Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte Conference Media Coordinator in New York, + 1 917367-9380, sainte@un.org
- For further information about the Public Program: Rain Fuller, Haystac, (03) 8689 2213, mob: 0432 070 301, r.fuller@haystac.com.au and visit http://makinghealthglobal.com.au
Kind regards,
Niall
—————————-
Niall Byrne
Science in Public
26 Railway Street South, Altona Vic 3018
ph +61 (3) 9398 1416 or 0417 131 977
Full contact details at www.scienceinpublic.com
