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Responding to a growing
need...
As the world’s population grows, there also grows the need for greater understanding and attention towards the practice and delivery of a fundamental human service: healthcare. Much emphasis in the past has been placed on topics in medicine that center around physician-patient relationships, drugs, treatments, global epidemics, humanitarian efforts, infectious diseases- management and control, research and looking for cures to terminal illnesses and education. And while there is extensive research and discourse on the topic of healthcare in urban and rural communities, a greater symposium highlighting the immediate challenges and long-term impact of the delivery of healthcare in these communities is of importance and need, in order to educate and more importantly, prepare the healthcare workers of the future.
Of importance is access to healthcare in communities that deal with a shortage of healthcare facilities and professionals. The aim of this conference will be to highlight the challenges these communities faced with a struggling or developing healthcare system. This could include lack of available qualified physicians, lack of specialized care facilities, lack of proper emergency care, lack of need based care for cultural minorities, specifically the indigenous people. For the purposes of this conference, we will aim to connect Canadian healthcare practices in accord with the health needs of the Canadian Aboriginal community.
Furthermore, there is also the need to examine the impact of health-related disciplines that often work concertedly to promote the development and management of an effective healthcare system. A cross-disciplinary basis must be used to create a multi-dimensional picture of the possible and real causes and effects that will determine the eventuality of a successful solution to healthcare disparities.
Last, it is important to create a symposium that allows for active engagement of thoughts, ideas and perspectives. Towards this purpose, the conference will aim to hold a panel of officials and professionals that will present the challenges and highlight the disparities that exist today in global health and attend to the inquiries and comments of the conference audience in order to mediate and channel proactive thinking.
