The overarching theme of the Pacific Health Summit is “connecting science and policy for a healthier world.”

Each year we focus our discussion on an issue of critical importance. In 2008, our theme will be "The Global Nutrition Challenge: Getting a Healthy Start." We will tackle the complex challenge of too little of the right nutrition for vulnerable populations, the rapidly emerging health threat of too much of the wrong nutrition in both developed and developing societies, and the continuum between them.

In 2007 our focal theme was “Pandemics—Working Together for an Effective and Equitable Response.” This interest dates back to the inaugural Pacific Health Summit in June 2005, when Jong-wook Lee, the then-Director-General of the World Health Organization, eloquently and passionately addressed the need for greater attention on the threat of a global avian influenza pandemic.

The 2006 Summit produced a call for a follow-up meeting to bring together diverse voices to discuss pandemic influenza vaccines. In January 2007, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Center for Health and Aging at The National Bureau of Asian Research co-presented a workshop in Beijing titled “Pandemic Influenza Vaccines: Building a Platform for Global Collaboration.” That workshop, in addition to serving as a dress rehearsal for the June 2007 Summit, has already supported collaborative national and regional efforts for disease detection and prevention programs based on scalable technology platforms for a public health strategy aimed at prevention and preparedness.

The timing is critical. We have heard a rising call for policies that would supply the vaccines, medicines, and critical equipment to protect those populations most vulnerable to a pandemic, while guaranteeing access to the scientific data necessary to protect all people. This issue underscores a particular urgency to the Summit’s mission to connect science and policy for a healthier world.