The notions of 'Social Medicine', migration, macroeconomic and social policies, as well as cultural and societal values were discussed. Speakers from the University of Rochester in the USA, the International Organization for Migration, the People's Health Movement and the World Health Organization contributed to the discussion.

John Martin, Adviser, Office of the Director General, WHO, Switzerland, opened the session stating that the purpose was to deliberate on what the world could do to improve the health care of its inhabitants. Despite progress in technology and treatments, why is the impact not substantial? He defined "global health" as encompassing all people on the planet, over and above individual nations. Health care centres cannot do the job alone - to face the challenge of gross social injustice requires a gross political response.

Although the philosophy of the Alma Ata declaration is still valid today, this session attempted to explain why its implementation has been hampered. The historical events that have occurred since the initial planning in the 1970's have tampered with the results. Insufficient health resources and poor infrastructures are stumbling blocks. The drive today should be away from more policy discussions and towards more ground action.

On behalf of the Geneva University Hospitals, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva, and the Forum Organizing Committee, we are delighted to welcome you to the Geneva Forum: Towards Global Access to Health. This second edition of the Geneva Health Forum comes as the result of the success of the first Forum, which took place end of August 2006.