The Institute for Social medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics (Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin) and IPPNW offer a one-day Global Health Conference about 

"Globalisation, Refugees and Health"

People have many reasons for leaving their home country: war, violence, poverty, no prospects, a repressive political system that forces them to flee in order to survive, or maybe they are just seeking a better life somewhere else. The major concern people have when migrating may not be access to a health system, but such access is essential for their health. Many refugees will encounter high-risk situations for their mental and physical well-being on the way. People often have left behind a life in a war zone or in extreme poverty, or both, and may endure great hardship and violence on their journey to a destination country where restrictive health policies deny them adequate help for their needs.

Not only do people come to harm but they even die due to inhuman security procedures while attempting to cross the EU border, especially since the Mediterranean rescue programme (“Mare nostrum”) was ended in 2014. New technical security and military procedures have made border crossing even more difficult.

Liberal Western democracies that were built upon a common economic policy are now paradoxically abandoning universal human rights, are selectively allowing or disallowing immigration and closing the door to Fortress Europe for migrants and refugees.

During our 4th public Global Health Conference we will discuss this subject, currently topical but by no means new. We will think about how to approach this discussion openly and inclusively, without stereotyping, stigmatising or generalising, while remaining aware of our own powerful and “privileged” Eurocentric viewpoint. We want to discover, together with academia and civil society organisations, what can be done practically and what should we demand politically in our democracies. Different voices will represent current developments, alternative approaches and future perspectives during the day. An interdisciplinary panel including physicians, social scientists and activists will debate the burning issues and jointly outline ways forward. 

Venue

Evangelische Schule Berlin Zentrum

Registration fee

Students: 15 Euro 

Professionals: 30 Euro

We regret that there is no possibility to provide scholarships or issue official invitations for visa applications for the Conference.

Objective and Course structure 

Since the Summer Schools Global Health topics are also considered interesting for the general public, it was decided in 2012 to add a one-day Global Health Conference for an interested wider auditorium. The Conference aims as an opening to the summer school to present the content, enable in-depth debates, while including the Summer Schools participants expertise.

The Conference opens with an introduction to health challenges in a Global Health context; while in the morning specific challenges to the Conference annual topic are debated, in the afternoon the focus is on solutions and wider interaction with the auditorium.

We use expert presentations and interactive workshops, as well as a panel discussion at the end of the day.

The Conference is relevant to medical and public health students as well as students from other faculties and the interested general public. 

Course language

While most of the conference will beheldin English, specific sessions in German are offered.

Speakers

Speakers come from national and international institutions of higher education. Persons with specific international health competence and experience are also part of the faculty.

Conference certificate

A conference certificate will be issued at the end of the day.

Course coordination

Lisa Bäuerle,
Anne Jurema
globalhealth[at]ippnw.de

Course directors 

Dr. med. Peter Tinnemann, MPH, Charité Universitätsmedizin

Frank Uhe, IPPNW Germany

Contact-Address

IPPNW - Global Health Summer School 

Körtestraße 10
10967 Berlin 

Questions should be directed to on globalhealth[at]ippnw.de