The theme of the Fourth International Conference is "Translating Research into Cost-effective Services for the Care and Prevention of Birth Defects, Preterm Birth and Consequent Disabilities."
The conference will be organized around five central themes. A focus of each will be on the presentation of successful models of care and prevention around the world.
- Surveillance, monitoring and needs assessment;
- Care of neonates and children with birth defects and disabilities;
- Prevention of birth defects and disabilities;
- Local, regional and global networks to strengthen the quality of health service delivery and promote community awareness; and
- Clinical genetics in its broad sense, including dysmorphology, metabolic disorders, thalassemia, muscular dystrophy and mental retardation, genetic predisposition to common chronic illnesses, etc.
The conference will be structured to encourage dialogue and the sharing of experiences among health care providers, researchers, parent/patient group representatives, policy makers and other stakeholders from developing and industrialized countries.
Birth defects, preterm birth and small for date births have received relatively little attention to date by international health policy makers. Yet the global toll of death and disability from both is high. Each year an estimated 7.9 million children are born with a serious genetic birth defect. Of these, 3.3 million die within the first five years of life. Preterm birth is estimated to complicate 6-10 percent of pregnancies worldwide. The toll of mortality and disability from these conditions is substantial, with a disproportionate burden (90 percent of births and 95 percent of deaths of children with these disabilities) being experienced in developing countries.
Recognizing the growing need to build capacity in lower-resource countries for the prevention of birth defects and preterm birth and care of those affected, the primary goal of this conference is to provide specific practical tools and approaches that developing country participants can use to implement and strengthen services when they return to their respective countries. Participants are expected to include health care providers, experts in data collection and monitoring, researchers, parent-patient organizations and youth volunteers from both the developing and industrialized world.
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
A Call for Abstracts will be issued in July 2008 and early submission is encouraged. A proportion of travel and per diem expenses, to be determined, will be awarded to those whose abstracts are accepted for oral presentation and who require funding.
Dr. Michael Katz Conference Chairman & Head,
Secretary, Executive Committee
The WHO, in a press release summarizing the results of the assembly, recognized that work needed to be intensified to "curb the harmful use of alcohol" which is the fifth leading risk factor for death and disability in the world.
