COVID-19 Virtual Summit

WRAP-up

Thank you for attending the 2020 AMWHO COVID-19 Virtual Summit! We're so glad you were able to join us and spend a few hours of your day learning and contributing to the discussion surrounding the novel coronavirus and health policy solutions to this issue.

Stay tuned for a video recapping our opening ceremonies, Q&A panel, and closing ceremonies. Additionally, 'photos' have been uploaded on our Facebook page . Look back on the experience and feel free to like, share, and tag yourselves (make sure to hashtag #amwhocovid19summit)!

We are committed to organizing a meaningful experience for all of our delegates. We would like to know how we can improve for any future possible virtual conferences hosted by UNC AMWHO. We would greatly appreciate if you take a moment to complete the feedback survey below.

Resolutions

Scientific Research & Development

Economic Impact

Vulnerable Populations

Health Communications &
Health Behavior

Healthcare Resources &
occupational safety

Mental Health

GALLERY

VIDEOS

Opening Ceremonies

Dr. Meier Keynote Speech

Subthemes

The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has swept the world with a pandemic illness with a magnitude unseen since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic. As global cases of COVID-19 have surpassed one million, it’s imperative that the World Health Organization mount a coordinated response and establish priority areas of interest. Never has international and intercontinental cooperation been more vital. COVID-19 has affected every aspect of our daily lives, restricting freedom of choice and movement, overwhelming our healthcare system, and overall halting life as we know it. While these times are undoubtedly difficult, they also provide an unprecedented opportunity to unite and engage with the power of global health policy to protect and enhance lives during this new normal. With swift and proper action, we can also set up global health systems and infrastructure to be better prepared for the next time disaster strikes.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Governments have long been the sole duty-bearers of ensuring national health and security. However, this pandemic requires the response of non-state actors such as academics and pharmaceutical companies to ensure the well-being of the world’s population. Epidemiologists around the world have done a great deal to provide statistical models to inform public policies that could “flatten the curve.” Biomedical research labs around the world have worked to determine the COVID-19 virus sequence and have dedicated their resources toward developing diagnostic tests, vaccines, and viable treatments. The engagement of pharmaceutical companies will be necessary for the mass manufacture and distribution of these biomedical therapies. Although each of these actors have an important stake in the pandemic response, it is necessary to coordinate efforts and resolve conflicting motives and agendas in order to consolidate an effective plan for addressing COVID-19. Low-to-middle income countries without adequate infrastructure for social distancing, limited access to water and sanitation, and restricted access to tests and vaccines will suffer a greater burden. It will be important for delegates to consider how policymakers can leverage the expertise of research and development actors to slow transmission and prevent overburdening of healthcare systems, while ensuring equitable access to live-saving technologies and the means to follow preventative public health guidelines.

Recommended readings:

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Closing businesses, educational institutions, services deemed non-essential, and other workplaces has had a significant impact on the global economy. Millions of people around the world have lost their jobs over the past few months which has consequently resulted in the loss of their livelihoods. Individuals and families are struggling to hold on to their essential needs and fundamental rights including access to food, housing and shelter, and financial freedom. High-to-middle income countries have expressed their concerns about the impact this downturn will have for years to come. However, low-to-middle income countries with emerging economies face the risk of losing a generation’s-worth of progress toward reducing income inequality and national development. These circumstances leave millions around the world without the capacity to advance their education, obtain a reliable source of income, and maintain an adequate standard of living. Delegates must consider the interdependent relationship between health and economic development to determine what policies can be implemented, challenging austerity measures and neoliberal policies that have failed the global economy thus far, to ensure the rebuilding of the world’s economy.

Recommended readings:

Overview of the economic impacts of COVID-19. (BBC)
Effect of COVID-19 on not-for-profit hospitals. (Modern Healthcare)
Sweden and COVID-19 (podcast). (NPR)
COVID-19 and Trade (podcast). (NPR)

VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

Initial concerns for COVID-19 were heightened for vulnerable populations including the elderly, individuals with underlying health conditions, and the immunocompromised. However, global data has shown that even young individuals without underlying health conditions are at high-risk for contracting and dying from the disease. Even more so, several populations have been overlooked with respect to risk-exposure and require special protection under global health policies:
Maternal and child health require special consideration and protection during the pandemic. Overburdened healthcare systems are struggling to balance COVID-19 patients with other cases including child-delivery and maternal clinics. Women are also at higher risk of domestic violence, as well as physical and sexual abuse, under confinement orders.
Prisoners living in close-quarters with poor sanitation conditions are at high-risk of contracting the disease if cases were to appear in correctional facilities. It is also important to consider that incarceration rates are disproportionately higher among marginalized communities such as African-Americans in North America and that a high percentage of prisoners are being detained for non-violent crimes and low-level offenses. These facilities may not have the capacity to ensure the health and safety of their detainees.
Refugee camps are another example of living arrangements that are conducive to the spread of COVID-19 with close living-quarters and poor sanitation. A lack of infrastructure in these areas make it particularly difficult for refugees and asylees to obtain the food, water, and medical services; all of these pre-existing issues will be exacerbated by the effects of the virus.

Recommended readings:

HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS & HEALTH BEHAVIOR

Without a vaccine or approved drugs available, our best defence against COVID-19 is stopping transmission via appropriate health behaviors. Public health experts have developed various guidelines and good hygiene practices to encourage civil society to do their part to mitigate the effects of the disease. Globalization has allowed for immense progress in the rapid spread of information, however, it has also resulted in the mass spread of misinformation. A lack of regulation on the information being spread across social media platforms, news sources, and various other media channels prevents effective implementation of health communications. In order to affect health behavior, policies regulating these sources of information must be implemented and enforced. Beyond the effect of ensuring health practices, regulating the spread of misinformation and educating the public has the potential to reduce xenophobic attacks toward Asian communities. In addition to the health threat the COVID-19 poses to the global population, misinformed fears around the disease have led to the resurgence of “yellow peril”, the idea that East-Asians are a danger and threat to the Western world in particular. Divisive behaviors that further polarize states struggling to control the virus will only make the circumstances worse. Participants should consider how policy can best be used to encourage safe health behaviors to mitigate the spread of the disease through accurate information and avoidance of distrust and misinformation.

Recommended readings:

Location Data Says It All: Staying at Home During Coronavirus Is a Luxury. (NY Times)

HEALTHCARE RESOURCES & OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY

Much of the conversation around mitigating the effects of COVID-19 has been around “flattening the curve” in order to prevent over-burdening healthcare resources. However, without adequate protection for frontline workers and health responders, the global healthcare capacity begins to diminish. The exponential increases in cases requiring hospitalization to-date have left hospitals desperately trying to obtain personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, ICU beds, and healthcare personnel. Shortages of these resources leave the global society in an increasingly more vulnerable position. Beyond the rising number of COVID-19 cases, essential surgeries, medical emergencies and other health services are losing resources and non-COVID-19 cases are unable to receive the necessary treatment. Government officials have exercised travel bans in attempts to stop the spread of the disease. However, the number of cases has continued to rise through community spread while still increasing barriers to the trans-national flow of life-saving resources and personnel. Participants should consider what policies can be implemented to ensure adequate distribution of health resources and personnel, to address the barriers that travel bans impose, to ensure the protection of those with occupational risk (ex: healthcare professionals, first responders, service workers, airline employees, etc.), and the role that corporations may be able to play in contributing to this effort under regulation.

Recommended readings:

MENTAL HEALTH

Mental health considerations are also important during the pandemic. Social distancing the and far-reaching effects of unemployment and social instability can trigger and exacerbate anxiety disorders, depressive episodes, and various other mental health conditions. Overburdened healthcare systems responding to the infectious disease are depleting resources and funding that can be directed toward ensuring access to mental health services. Elderly individuals in particular are under great levels of stress and they are one of the highest risk demographics. They also are often confined from their families without social interaction and support during this period of extended care lockdowns.

Recommended readings:

Schedule

SATURDAY | APRIL 18, 2020 | ALL TIMES IN EST

12:00 PM - 12:05 PM
WELCOME

Participants will log into the Zoom Meeting and the UNC AMWHO Executive Board will kick off the event with a brief overview of the summit.

12:05 PM - 12:30 PM
OPENING KEYNOTE

Dr. Meier, a distinguished professor of the Gillings School of Global Public Health, will give an overview of the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss the role that the World Health Organizing plays in managing the crisis.

12:30 PM - 1:15 PM
COMMITTEE SESSION I

Participants will move into their breakout sessions to discuss their assigned theme.

1:15 - 2:00 PM
EXPERT PANEL Q&A

Participants will have the opportunity to hear from distinguished leaders in global health and infectious diseases--speakers include professors from local universities, researchers, and public health professionals.

2:00 - 2:45 PM
COMMITTEE SESSION II

Delegates will return to their breakout session to continue discussion and draft a working paper.

2:45 PM - 3:30 PM
REFLECTION & CLOSING SESSION

The closing session will begin, where all committees convene to present each theme and working paper.

Guest Speakers

Opening Ceremonies Keynote

Benjamin Mason Meier, JD, LLM, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Public Policy
Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Policy and Management

University of North Carolina

Website

Dr. Meier’s interdisciplinary research—at the intersection of global health, international law, and public policy—examines rights-based approaches to health. Working collaboratively across UNC’s Department of Public Policy and Gillings School of Global Public Health, Dr. Meier has written and presented extensively on the development, evolution, and application of human rights in global health.

As a contributor to the development of global health policy, Dr. Meier serves additionally as a Scholar at Georgetown Law School’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, as the past chair of the American Public Health Association’s Human Rights Forum, and as a consultant to international organizations, national governments, and nongovernmental organizations.

Having just published a volume on Human Rights in Global Health: Rights-Based Governance for a Globalizing World (Oxford University Press 2018), Dr. Meier is currently developing a new text on Foundations of Global Health & Human Rights (Oxford University Press 2020); coordinating special issues of Global Health Governance (Global Health Justice & Governance) and the Health & Human Rights Journal (Human Rights for Health across the United Nations); and finalizing a project on Assessing Foreign Public Health Legal Landscapes to Facilitate Achievement of U.S. Global Health Security Goals.

In June 2017, he received the Outstanding Recent Alumni Award from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, in November 2018, he received the Early Career Award for Excellence in Public Health Law from the American Public Health Association, and in March 2019, he received the Teaching Innovation Award from the Department of Health Policy & Management.

Dr. Meier received his Ph.D. in Sociomedical Sciences from Columbia University, his J.D. and LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Cornell Law School, and his B.A. in Biochemistry from Cornell University

Recent publications and news articles:

Expert Panel Q & A

Participants will have the opportunity to hear from two distinguished leaders in global health and infectious disease, Dr. Roojin Habibi and Dr. Gian Luca Burci .

Roojin Habibi, JD, MSc

Research Fellow, Global Strategy Lab
PhD Candidate, Law, York University

Roojin Habibi is an international lawyer, consultant and research fellow specialized in global health law, governance and justice. She has worked as an advocate for the right to health of marginalized and left behind populations at the national and international level through civil society and intergovernmental organizations including the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the Canadian Medical Association, the Namibian Legal Assistance Centre and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). She teaches Medicines Policy, Economics and Ethics at the University of Sydney.

Roojin’s research has been featured in, among others, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the Philippe Kirsch Institute Global Justice Journal, the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Health Policy, and the Ottawa Law Review. She holds a law degree (J.D.) from the University of Ottawa, a specialization in transnational law from the University of Geneva, and a Master’s of Science in Global Health from McMaster University. She is pursuing her doctoral thesis on the sustainable and equitable governance of emerging and re-emerging pathogens with pandemic potential.

Roojin speaks English, French and Farsi fluently. On her spare time, she practices open water diving and museum hopping. Follow her on twitter here.

Recent publications and news articles:

Gian Luca Burci, PhD

Adjunct Professor of International Law

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

Geneva, Switzerland

Gian Luca Burci was named Adjunct Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva in 2012. He served in the Legal Office of the World Health Organization since 1998 and was its Legal Counsel from April 2005 until its retirement in February 2016.

Professor Burci previously served as Legal Officer at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna in 1998-1999 and in the Office of the Legal Counsel of the United Nations in New York for nearly a decade. At the Graduate Institute he teaches international health law within the framework of the joint LLM in Global Health Law and International Institutions Programme in partnership with Georgetown University, as well as a course on the law and practice of the United Nations.

Among other professional achievements, he was closely involved in the negotiation and implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and its Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, the revision and implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005), WHO’s response to the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak and WHO reform. Prof. Burci holds a post graduate degree in law from the Università degli Studi di Genova, Italy. His areas of expertise are public international law, the law of international organizations as well as global health governance and law. Prof. Burci is the co-author of the leading English book on WHO, editor of the first research collection on global health law and author of numerous articles and book chapters.

Recent publications and news articles:

Do not violate the International Health Regulations during the COVID-19 outbreak. (The Lancet)
Episode 19: Coronavirus and the International Law of Epidemics (American Society of International Law)
The World Has a Plan to Fight Coronavirus. Most Countries Are Not Using it. (New York Times)

EXAMPLE RESOLUTION

Below is an example of the end product of our discussions - a resolution that describes, in detail, the policies we wish to implement. This resolution is from the 2019 Regional conference on the topic of food insecurity. Throughout the committee sessions, we will be working on developing policy issues to a specific subtheme from above.

MEET THE SECRETARIAT

We'd like to say a big thank you to our UNC AMWHO Executive Board for putting together this virtual summit in just a few weeks! Find out more about our amazing exec members on our team page.