American Public Health Association Annual Meeting

The 134th American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting began this past weekend in Boston and will be held November 4 - 8, 2006. The meeting, which anticipates 13,000 attendees, will focus on "Public Health and Human Rights." The conference is a massive affair, featuring hundreds of scientific and educational sessions -- including roundtables, poster sessions, and panel discussions -- and thousands of scientific papers on the latest public health issues. Featured speakers include Helene Gayle, of CARE USA, John McDonough, of Health Care for All, Massachusetts's leading consumer health advocacy organization, and Paul Famer, of Partners in Health, an international direct-care charity.

I join Ross Silverman, Robert Field, and Patricia Sweeney for a scientific panel session on "Vaccinations, Human Rights, and Public Health Interventions," tomorrow afternoon. The scope and size of the Annual Meeting is a testament to APHA's presence, the importance of the public health policy, and the breadth of issues bearing on the field.