The Bellagio Forum for Sustainable Development held its 9th Annual General Meeting from September 17-18 in London.

A high level panel of guests from large foundations, research organizations and the pharmaceutical industry presented an overview of the global challenges faced on issues ranging from food and water safety, access to preventative medicine and the intersection between macro-economics and health. The panelists included Dr. James Whitworth of the Wellcome Trust, Philippe Kourilsky of the Pasteur Institute, Claire Hitchcock from GlaxoSmithKline and Stefanie Ettelt of the German Foundation for World Population.

Panelist chairman, John Wyn Owen, Secretary of the Nuffield Trust made it clear that both short and long-term health and development challenges were significant and often growing, “We already have the solutions to a huge number of health-related problems, but do not yet have the determination to implement them.”

Commenting on a lively debate which focused on implementing the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the need for inter-sectoral action, BFSD Executive Director, Samuel Shiroff observed, “There were a number of complimentary perspectives and overviews from the panel; there was also a clear and consistent message: contrary to Washington Consensus thinking of the past several years, health care spending on the part of governments needs to be understood as an investment rather than a cost.

Day 2 of the meeting was set aside for working group sessions where concepts are developed and decisions made.

During the midday break the members heard from Thomas Spencer of the European Centre for Public Affairs Ltd and former head of the Conservative Party in the European Parliament. Spencer provided the guests with an overview of “how politicians think” when it comes to communicating innovative ideas to them as well as the problems and possibilities faced in meeting targets and specifically the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

When asked about where sees the greatest future challenges he responded that “the Millennium Goals’s are extremely important, but the West needs to realize that the rise of China and India probably means that we only have about 15 more years to really influence the process of globalization and then it will no longer be fully in our hands”.

The Members of each BFSD Working Group, Energy, Water, Awareness and Finance met to discuss their latest progress and to further develop ideas.

More information on the outcome of the Working Group Meetings can be requested from info@bfsd.org.

The next Bellagio Forum Members' Meeting will take place on April 15-16 in Paris.