Fiocruz hosts international seminars on ethics and the history of global health

The events will open on May, 5 from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm at the auditorium of the Museum of Life, located at Fiocruz’s campus in Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The opening will be attended by the president of Fiocruz, Paulo Gadelha, the director of Casa de Oswaldo Cruz, Paulo Elian, and the director of the Centre for Global Health Histories, Sanjoy Bhattacharya.

In its 4th edition, the Global Health Ethics Seminar series will discuss major moral and ethical questions, focusing on bioethics.  The speakers will be Carla Saenz, from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Abha Saxena, from the WHO, and Sergio Rego, from the National School of Public Health (Ensp/Fiocruz). Paulo Buss, director of Fiocruz’s Center for International Relations in Health, will be moderating the discussions.

The Global Health Ethics Seminar series provides a forum for leading ethicists, health care workers and policy makers from across the world to come together and provide practical answers to the major moral and ethical questions that arise during times of global health crises.

After the presentations and debates, Carla Saenz (PAHO) will be launching the book Public health ethics: cases spanning the globe, organized by her and other researchers. The book highlights the ethical issues and dilemmas that arise in the practice of public health. It is also a tool to support instruction, debate, and dialogue regarding public health ethics.

On May 6, the Global Health Histories seminar will address leprosy from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm in its 97th edition. The speakers will be Euzenir Sarno, from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute´s Leprosy Laboratory (IOC/Fiocruz); Mirta Roses Periago, senior advisor on Global Health for the Global Fund; and Rosa Castália F. R. Soares, from the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The moderator will be the editor of the scientific journal History, Science, Health – Manguinhos, Marcos Cueto.  

The series brings together researchers and policy makers with the goal to demonstrate how understanding the history of health could provide answers to the challenges of today and help shape a healthier future for everyone, especially those most in need.

During the event, the  Centre for Global Health and the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz will be launching the book Leprosy – a short story/Lepra (hanseníase) – uma breve história.  The book presents a collection of vignettes which provide critical perspectives on the disease, exploring its impact on society from the medieval period up to the present.