The Role of Universities in Enhancing Global Health

The annual meeting of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) has emerged as a leading international forum for discussion of the latest trends and developments in global health. In this fifth edition of the conference, around 1,500 professionals from a wide range of sectors came together from 10 to 12 May in Washington, D.C. to discuss the main topic of this year's event: Universities 2.0: Advancing Global Health in the Post-MDG Era.

The aim of the conference was to highlight the role played by universities in knowledge translation, that is, the transfer of knowledge to society. One of the greatest weaknesses in global health is the gap between the knowledge generated by researchers—whose main goal is to publish their findings in scientific journals—and the implementation of that knowledge on the ground, where it can have an impact on people's lives. It is in this context that universities can play a key role, helping to bridge the gap, working with institutions in resource-poor countries to create and retain talent, and extending the reach of scientific solutions that can improve people's lives.

The Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) was one of the few European institutions represented at the conference, a fact that attests to its position as a leading academic institution in the field of global health. Núria Casamitjana, the Director of Training at ISGlobal, spoke in a workshop entitled The Role of Universities in Global Human Resources for Health and also participated in the symposium Global Health Consortia from Around the World as a representative of the European Academic Global Health Alliance and the World Federation of Academic Institutions for Global Health.

The Consortium of Universities for Global Health was set up in 2008 by 24 North American academic institutions to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and facilitate the sharing of knowledge in order to reduce health disparities worldwide. The Consortium now has more than 120 member institutions, a growing proportion of which represent low- and middle-income countries.