SARS Survivor Addresses NZ Conference

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

Media Release

14 October 2004

SARS Survivor Addresses NZ Conference

A Hong Kong SARS survivor who helped lead the territory's response to the disease from his hospital bed will be sharing his personal and professional experience of SARS at an international conference in Wellington next month.

Dr William Ho, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority contracted and survived SARS, a deadly infectious disease that affected many countries during 2003, creating world-wide anxiety.

While recuperating in hospital, Dr Ho planned and managed the Hong Kong health sector’s response to the crisis. Measures were very quickly put in place in Hong Kong to identify the source of infection and control the spread of the disease.

A major travel hub for the rest of the world, Hong Kong’s fight against SARS was instrumental in limiting the global effects of the pandemic.
William Ho will be speaking at the 5th International Conference on Priorities in Health Care. He will address 350 – 400 participants from around the world on ‘The impact of SARS on priority setting in public health care in Hong Kong’.

Dr Ho will reflect on the challenges he faced – he had to manage ‘business as usual’, providing health services to meet population health needs within available resources, in the face of the unexpected and potentially disastrous SARS outbreak. And he did this while recovering from SARS himself.

As Asian Bird Flu has shown this year, health systems have to be constantly on their guard. New Zealand health professionals have a unique chance to hear the realities.
From 1 – 6 November 2004, Wellington New Zealand will host some of the world’s leading experts in three innovative scientific conferences covering evidence-based health care, priorities in health care, and effective use of health resources.

These three conferences are:

Evidence in Action – Guidelines International Network/ NZGG 2004

5th international Conference on Priorities in Health Care – International Society on Priorities in Health Care biennial meeting, 2004

Health Economists Workshop – a highly practical day focusing on economic tools to help health funders choose the most effective services to invest in.

Media representatives are invited to attend all three meetings. Media passes are available from organiser@conferences.co.nz .