Note to Correspondents

‘GLOBAL HEALTH:  RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE 21^ST CENTURY’

THEME OF 2005 UNIS-UN CONFERENCE AT HEADQUARTERS 3 - 4 MARCH

The theme of the twenty-ninth annual UNIS-UN Conference (United Nations International School-United Nations) is “Global Health:  Rights and Responsibilities in the 21st Century”.  The conference will be held on Thursday and Friday, 3 and 4 March 2005, in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations.

This year’s topic seeks to address ways in which health is affected by current trends, taking into consideration most notably the impact of the environment, education, globalization, and health care on the condition of the world’s population.  From the availability of vaccines to the contamination of drinking water, global health promises to shape the twenty-first century.

Our speakers will include Morgan Spurlock, acclaimed director and producer of the Oscar-nominated film “Super Size Me”; Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club; and Dr. Anke Ehrhardt, Director of the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

The UNIS-UN Conference is organized and run by UNIS students.  The UNIS-UN Committee begins preparations for the conference nearly a year in advance, finding and researching a topic of global relevance, drawing up a list of speakers, inviting several hundred students from schools all over the world, organizing UNIS Tutorial House debates, and compiling a Working Paper of articles pertaining to the topic written and edited by members of the UNIS-UN Committee.  The conference is also broadcast live on the Internet.

The structure of the UNIS-UN Conference is designed to provide students with expert knowledge through the experience of provocative guest speakers.  The conference also endeavours to give students a platform to express and debate their own opinions and views in arguably the most internationally significant gathering place on earth.  More than 900 participants hailing from six continents will attend the conference.  By outlining some of the issues that dominate the discussion of world health in the twenty-first century, the UNIS-UN Committee hopes that the conference will foster a greater awareness of this fundamental aspect of daily life, as well as of the world at large.

Contact:  Sylvia Fuhrman, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for UNIS, tel.:  212-963-8729; or United Nations International School, 24-50 F.D.R. Drive, New York, NY10010-4046, tel.:  212-584-3108 fax:  212-889-8959, e-mail:  unis-un@unis.org, Internet:  http://www.unis-un.org.

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