Plenaries & Speakers

All Plenaries will be held in the Grand Theatre at Science City, Kolkata.
The following Keynote Speakers and Panelists have confirmed their participation in the Plenary Sessions of the 14th WCPH.
Please click on the name to see photograph and brief biography.

Opening Plenary

11 February, 2015
16.00 – 17.30
Mengistu Asnake President, WFPHA
J. Ravi Kumar President, Indian Public Health Association (IPHA)

Kamalesh Sharma 		Secretary General, Commonwealth of
Nations
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region

Plenary 1

12 February, 2015 08.30 – 10.00

Defining the role of Public Health in today’s global setting

Co-Chairs: Bettina Borisch, Head, WFPHA Geneva Secretariat and Dipika Sur Secretary-General, IPHA
Session overview:
This plenary session will explore and share perspectives and experiences in defining what public health means and does in the increasingly complex context of the global 21st Century. The session will draw

upon, among other things, the WHO/WFPHA conjoint consultative initiative with public health experts from around the world to define what public health is/means, what constitute essential public health

functions at the national, regional and global levels, and how best to match public health education and training with today’s public health practitioners’ needs.
Nata Menabde Representative to India,World Health Organisation
Paulo Ernani Gadelha Vieira President, FIOCRUZ (Brazil)
Pekka Puska President,International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI)
Rüdiger Krech Director, Department of Ethics, Equity, Trade & Human Rights,WHO

Plenary 2

12 February, 2015
13.30 – 15.00

Public Health in the sustainable development agenda

Co-Chairs: Mengistu Asnake, WFPHA President and Madhumita Dobe, Organizing Secretary, 14th WCPH, IPHA
Session overview:
This plenary session will explore and share how ‘public health’ is seen in the public, professional and political domains within the post-2015 Human Development Agenda. Where are ‘public health’ and the

social and ecosystem determinants of health within this proposed global agenda? What and how does the global public health community advocate to the ‘powers that are’ to get public health and the SDH

on this agenda?
Michael Marmot Director, University College London, UK
Girindre Beeharry Country Head, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Purnima Mane President and CEO, Pathfinder International
Shiriki Kumanyika President, American Public Health Association (APHA)

Plenary 3

13 February, 2015
08.30 – 10.00

Public Health approaches to address new challenges of sustainable development & healthy environment

Co-Chairs: Michael Moore, WFPHA Vice President, President-Elect

Session overview:
This plenary session will explore and share experiences and opinions about and the challenges of putting into place an ecosystem health approach within the post-2015 Human Development Agenda.

Specifically, what is an ecosystem health approach to sustainable human development and how does ‘public health’ work with communities to address threats and risks to health related to ecosystem

factors?
Bolormaa Purevdorj Head of Department on Health Promotion,National Center of Public Health, Mongolia
Maria Neira Director, Public Health and the Environment Department, World Health Organisation
Dr Shu-ti Chiou Director-General, Health Promotion Administration, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Taiwan
Dr. Howard Njoo Associate Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada

Plenary 4

14 February, 2015
08.30 – 10.00

Global Public Health challenges

Co-Chairs: Ulrich Laaser, WFPHA Past President (2012-2014) and Sanjay Zodpey, Director at the IIPH & Director, Public Health Education, PHFI
Session overview:
This plenary session will explore and share perspectives of innovative solutions to some of the more important challenges that affect our goal to achieve good health for all people, with particular attention

to the place of public health innovation and action within a post-2015 human development agenda.
Ilona Kickbusch Professor,Global Health Programmme at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Switzerland
Vesna Bjegovic Professor of Public Health & President of Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER),Belgrade University, Serbia

Frederika Meijer 		Country Representative,United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Tewabech Bishaw Managing Director, Alliance for Brain-Gain & Innovative Development; and Secretary General, African Federation of Public Health Associations, Ethiopia

Plenary 5

15 February, 2015
08.30 – 10.00

Human Rights and Law as tools for sustainable development

Co-Chairs: Dr David Butler-Jones, Senior Medical Officer, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada and former Chief Public Health Officer of Canada and Dr Yogendra. K. Gupta, Professor & Head, Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Session overview:
This plenary session will explore and share experiences and opinions about ‘the place of human rights and law’ as cornerstones for public health policy and action, and how this can be/should be integrated

within the post-2015 Human Development Agenda.
Sharon Friel Professor of Health Equity & ARC Future Fellow,ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment and ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australia
Martin McKee Professor of European Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,UK
Javed Rahmanzai Member Governance Council,Executive Board Member Afghanistan PHA,WFPHA
Dinesh Thakur Consultant on Drug Manufacturing, EX- Ranbaxy Laboratories
K Srinath Reddy President, Public Health Foundation of India