The World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), Qatar Foundation’s global health initiative, will bring back its popular Agora discussion sessions during its upcoming WISH 2020 summit on November 15-19.
Based on the traditional Greek assembly places, where community members would meet to exchange news, the Agora sessions are informal discussions where a cross section of the extensive WISH community will form a jury of 12 people who will examine a particularly challenging and thought-provoking topic.
Questions that the jury will consider will include “Is COVID-19 taking essential attention and resources from other major global health threats?” The significant focus on COVID-19 by the global healthcare community means other global health threats are being starved of resources. For instance, billions of dollars needed to tackle malaria and tuberculosis are being re-routed to the current pandemic. How dangerous is this for the health of the global population?
Along similar lines, “When will we wake up to the global health threats of climate change?” will explore whether we are missing the far greater long-term threat – a threat for which there is no vaccine?.
“How can we harness social media as a force for promoting better healthcare?” will consider how, if you have strong evidence-based healthcare information, you can make people take better notice of positive health messaging.
The wearing of masks has become politicized in some parts of the world but the practice is seen as standard in others. “Masks as a political statement?” will examine how the lessons from places like Japan and Taiwan can be used to take politics out of preventative healthcare.
The session titled “Wasted potential?” will ask if enough is being done to avoid massive burnout among healthcare professionals and students.
In addition to the jury, experts in the field will join the online sessions to give a quick 5-minute opinion that kick-starts the discussion. The five Agora sessions are designed as a platform for sparking lively debates that bring in a variety of viewpoints. In a virtual format, the live sessions promise to take on a unique character by hosting frank conversations between speakers across multiple geographies with a focus on global health challenges.
For regular updates to the summit agenda, visit www. https://2020.wish.org.qa/ or follow WISH on our social media channels: @WISHQatar on Twitter.
