Health reform is badly needed in many countries in the developing world in order to stop the burden of catastrophic healthcare costs remaining on the shoulders of individual families. We talked to Dr. Frenk, Minister of Health for Mexico, where an important healthcare system reform was launched in 2003. The reform implemented, among other things, a 7-year plan to finance "el seguro popular" or popular insurance.

Mr. Salih Meky, Minister of Health of Eritrea, spoke with us about achievements and challenges in the field of health in his country and Africa more generally. In Eritrea, health care is free of charge. The country has managed to keep under control a number of infectious diseases, but faces the increasing challenge of chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer. Hospital costs are a major issue. Minister Meky also questioned whether there was a simple solution to the brain drain, but urged that it needed to be addressed not just by the South, but also by the wealthy countries in the North.

The final plenary session of the "Geneva Forum: Towards Global Access to Health" was dedicated to summarizing the key issues which emerged during the three days of discussion and exchange and to formulate suggestions on how to develop these issues in the future. The final plenary was also a moment to thank all the contributors of the Forum for their effort and participation.

Research is the basis of developing sustainable health care to communities. However, research must be conducted ethically and persons participating in medical research, especially in clinical drug trials, must be protected. This means that the many actors who participate in international collaborative research must apply the highest ethical standards. Universities and health training institutions must provide leadership in ensuring that research is conducted in an ethical manner.

Plenary V addressed the current challenges and conditions for effective capacity building in the health workforce as well as medical research to improve health and give access to health care in developing countries.

As part of the broad topic on how to provide equal access to health, this symposium discussed how tools such as telemedicine can increase access to medical information and contribute to the reduction of the global digital gap. According to Guy Olivier Segond, former president of the State Council of Geneva and President of the Executive Committee of the Digital Solidarity Fund, information technology (IT) remains a "key tool to access health and improve the effectiveness of health systems".

Access to reliable medical information, as well as ensuring its quality, validity and availability were the main issues presented in this track V session. As the chairpersons emphasized, the three speakers presented different, yet complementary ways to bridge the knowledge gap between people who have Internet access and the ones who rely on offline oral or written transmission.

The Symposium concentrated on the role of hospitals and academic networks in promoting the delivery of healthcare to populations. It is clear that medical schools have a social accountability beyond their more limited objective to train students technically. The symposium presented some international academic networks such as the International Campaign in Revitalising Academic medicine (ICRAM), TroPed (a network of european institutions for higher education in international health and ESTHER (Ensemble pour une Solidarité Thérapeutique en Réseau) and their efforts to improve the delivery of global health services.

The symposium on "Research and Access to Health: Ethical Concerns" has highlighted the fact that strong laws are a powerful tool to protect participants in experimental clinical trials. Presentations on Clinical Research in Latin America and the importance of national laws in the implementation of international regulation in developing countries introduced some of the complexities of ethics involved in clinical trials.

Un constat s'impose : les moyens visant à l'amélioration de la santé ne cessent de progresser et de se diversifier, alors que l'accès à ces moyens reste limité, voire inexistant dans de nombreuses régions du monde.