PIH CEO Gary Gottlieb Advocates for Global Health Equity in Vatican City

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeff Marvin, Media Relations Manager
jmarvin@pih.org

BOSTON (Dec. 2, 2016)—Partners In Health (PIH) CEO Dr. Gary Gottlieb joins world business, civic and media leaders today for the 2016 Fortune/Time Global Forum, a two-day gathering inspired by Pope Francis’s call to find lasting ways to lift people out of poverty and expand health care access to those in need. Titled “The 21st Century Challenge: Forging A New Social Compact,” the Global Forum offers participants a unique opportunity to engage with the Pope and influencers from around the world on how the private sector can address economic and social inequality.

Dr. Gottlieb, serving as subject expert in a working group on “Fighting Disease, Providing Access,” urged business leaders to embrace PIH’s mission of bringing the benefits of modern medical science to those in the greatest need.

“Expanding access to twenty-first century medicine is essential, regardless of wealth or geography,” said Dr. Gottlieb at the close of today’s session. “Health is fundamental to individual wellbeing and human dignity, and as such, high quality health care is a human right. Building robust and resilient rural health systems is critical. Private-sector engagement can be driven by company mission, embracing moral and social justice concerns as well as economic opportunities. These are complementary and are essential to enabling innovation and creating sustainable solutions.”

Topics covered on the panel – which was moderated by Clifton Leaf, Deputy Editor of Fortune and chaired by Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis – included infectious disease treatment and prevention, disaster health care, access to medical services, drug costs and maternal and child health.

Participants joining Dr. Gottlieb in the Fortune/Time Global Forum, held December 2-3, 2016, include: Lawrence Summers, Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and President Emeritus, Harvard University; Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group; Andrew Stern, Senior Fellow, Columbia University, and Former President, SEIU; and Nicholas Kristof, Columnist, The New York Times. Learn more about the Global Forum here.

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Partners In Health is an international medical organization that helps build and sustain public health systems in poor and underserved communities around the world. Launched in Haiti in 1987, Partners In Health today reaches 7 million people around the world and employs 18,000 people, including 15,000 local community health workers. Learn more about our work at www.pih.org.