Conference Highlights Need for Cooperative Efforts to Rein in Health Care Costs

Published on June 22, 2011

“Governments and the private sector need to work together to offer innovative solutions for health promotion, disease prevention and treatment that will help address the rising health care costs and challenges presented by aging populations,” stated Nicole Denjoy, chair of the Task Force on Health Care Policy at the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, USCIB’s affiliate. “We need to move from sick care to health care.”

Speaking to over 100 senior policymakers, business figures and academics gathered in Paris for the OECD 50th Anniversary Health Conference on meeting the challenges of aging and multiple morbidities, co-sponsored by BIAC, Ms. Denjoy, the secretary general of COCIR (European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical and Healthcare IT Industry), highlighted the business case for greater collaboration with governments to generate improved health outcomes and greater efficiency in the future.

She said businesses, as contributors to health budgets, employers of older workers, and providers of goods and services, have a vested interest in reducing the overall cost burden, while increasing efficiency and quality of health care. Close cooperation with governments will help incentivize the business community to make the necessary investments today that will yield the solutions needed for tomorrow.

Despite big improvements in health since the founding of the OECD in 1961, health policies have been slow to adapt to new challenges. Ms. Denjoy said. Addressing the health care needs of the future requires urgent attention from policymakers as the transformation for the health care system takes years to develop and implement.

Flu Pandemic Resources

Published on May 16, 2009

Negative stain EM image of the swine influenza A/CA/4/09 (Photo: CDC)

Following are helpful links to resources from key public authorities, USCIB member organizations and our global network on the ongoing H1N1 flu (swine flu) pandemic.

For information on USCIB’s Health Care Working Group, please contact Helen Medina (hmedina@uscib.org).

World Health Organization:

– H1N1 updates

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

– H1N1 flu page

International Organization of Employers:

– IOE Information to Members on the Current Swine

Influenza A (H1n1) Developments (May 1, 2009)

Baker & McKenzie:

– Employer Response to Pandemic Flu Warnings (April 2009)

– Canada Employer Alert on “Swine Flu” (April 2009)

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP: –Fragomen Global Update on Swine Flu Responses Worldwide (May 5, 2009)

–Fragomen Global Update on Swine Flu Responses in China (May 8, 2009)

Google

-Google Flu Trends (May 2009): http://www.google.org/flutrends

More on USCIB’s Health Care Working Group

WHO Briefing Focuses on Private-Sector Partnerships

Published on May 28, 2008

L-R: IOE President Abraham Katz, Ivan Ivanov (WHO), David Bell (Centers for Disease Control), Jeffrey Gilbert (Pfizer).

Last month, USCIB hosted a high-level meeting between business representatives, senior staff from the World Health Organization and officials from the International Organization of Employers to discuss workplace and employee health initiatives, and to identify opportunities for collaboration between WHO and business.

The meeting included briefings from companies on their worldwide operations, initiatives for employees and the community within which they operate, and company participation in public-private coalitions to effect broad-based change. The WHO representatives discussed current work on workplace and employee health, including opportunities for private-sector engagement.

Since the WHO work will also be implemented with national governments – focusing on developing countries – discussion included how business can coordinate country programs with WHO national initiatives.

One model partnership is the WHO’s efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of leaded gasoline in developing countrie4s, especially Africa. Major petroleum and auto companies have worked with national governments, the United Nations Environment Program, the World Bank and other bodies to make lead-free gas – along with catalytic converters and more efficient automobiles – available in Africa. The resulting improvements in air quality have directly improved the lives of around a billion people.

Also participating in the meeting were senior representatives from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, who updated participants on the WHO’s new International Health Regulations. Revised following the SARS epidemic, these regulations constitute the international legal framework for response during such epidemics by governments, the WHO and other stakeholders. Pandemic preparedness and coordination between business, supply chains, government and international organizations were also explored.

The meeting concluded with strong agreement that business is a key stakeholder for the WHO’s work in this field, and that there are many other opportunities where collaborations and partnership could be beneficial. There are concrete actions for follow-up, and a mutual desire to maintain an ongoing dialogue.

More on the International Organization of Employers

More on USCIB’s Health Care Task Force

In Davos, USCIB Chairman Unveils Clean Water Initiative

Published on January 26, 2007

USCIB Chairman William J. Parrett of Deloitte (right) with Kurt Soderlund of the Safe Water Network.

At this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, USCIB Chairman William J. Parrett, chief executive officer of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, announced a joint project between his firm and the Safe Water Network to develop small-scale, community-based solutions to bring safe water to neglected populations.

The 12-month program will target several countries and regions – potentially including Bangladesh, China, India, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America – where distributed water purification technology solutions are expected to improve community access to clean drinking water.

Mr. Parrett and Kurt Soderlund, the Safe Water Network’s chief operating officer, said the objectives of the program for the next 12 months include:

Empowering local communities to improve their living conditions through the deployment of distributed water purification technology
Demonstrating alternative models to deploy water purification solutions, including micro-enterprise programs that establish local water entrepreneurs, and social investment programs such as supplying water purification to local health clinics
Developing plans that support broad scale deployment of solutions to materially improve the health and living conditions for the millions afflicted by water-borne illnesses.

“Many communities face severe water shortages that hinder their development,” Mr. Parrett said. “Deloitte member firms are proud to work with the Safe Water Network to help bring what we see as practical solutions to local communities. The Deloitte network of member firms, including approximately 135,000 people in nearly 140 countries, can bring knowledge and expertise to define local needs, and help deliver technology and other solutions to deliver clean water.”

Nearly 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, and 90 percent of deaths from water-related diseases in the developing world today occur in children under five years of age. “In different ways, at different ages, access to adequate water and sanitation services influences everybody’s health, education, life expectancy, well-being and social development,” noted Mr. Parrett. “Water is fundamental to human life, community development, and long-term sustainability.”

More on USCIB’s Health Care Working Group

More on USCIB’s Environment Committee

Deloitte website