Global Health Watch (GHW), a collaborative report, aims to list all the health-related burning issues that official organizations cannot put on their agenda. It gives people a voice that cannot wait to be heard. Speakers of the present session presented the GHW.

How can we bridge the gap of inequality between donor and recipient, the developing and the developed, the researchers and the researched, to serve the health systems of tomorrow? The four speakers, despite coming from a diversity of backgrounds, made an important contribution to this forum by emphasizing the need for a mutual, supportive partnership between those at either extreme of the inequality gap. Ways of achieving this partnership are closely linked to research on health-related issues and training of a global health workforce, but there is no doubt that further research is crucial to arrive at effective outcomes on both the national and the international level.

Molecular amplification methods, multi-pathogen detection using high-density micro arrays, microbicides that protect women from HIV infection: "Biotech is poised to make an impact on access to health in developing countries." Now that the role of biotechnology as a means to health has been established, we must consider what needs to be done to extend it to developing countries.

Research is generating sound evidence on the treatment and prevention strategies for the three diseases of poverty - namely tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS - thanks to a number of partnerships that already exist between developed and developing countries. While innovation and implementation studies attract significant funding, clinical research on validation needs more support. Descriptive research can make a significant contribution to these important diseases. Efforts must be made to resist studies focusing research only in the 'easy areas' and for partners to take the 'hit and run' approach. In certain areas where research can be more difficult, such as multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), clinical research can start 'from scratch' and be simply based on clinical observations.

This session on case studies on neglected diseases was introduced by Dr. Nikaus Gyr, Director of the Academy of Swiss Insurance Medicine of the University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland. The two key speakers were Mr. Bilenge, the National Counsellor on Sleeping Sickness and research with the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Professor Azad Khan from the Diabetic Association of Bangladesh. The third speaker, Mr. Boock, the Regional Bureau for Aid to Leprosy Sufferers, Emmaus-Suisse in Cameroun, was unable to attend the forum.

Truly global access to health not only includes universal access to healthcare, but also the availability of medical research infrastructure in both high- and low-income countries. However, at present, knowledge is highly concentrated in the North where science and technical expenditure amounts to roughly 200 to 500 times that of developing countries. In order to narrow this gap, enduring research infrastructures in low-income countries need to be established. Past experiences and ongoing projects can tell us what works and what does not work when it comes to constructing research infrastructures in the developing world.

Bringing together participants from a range of contexts and backgrounds, the session provoked an exciting and varied discussion on the important role capacity-building plays within research and the ways to achieve common goals. This session highlighted both the challenges and opportunities of working together to rethink research paradigms.

The demand on health systems is increasing and the capacity to respond to this trend is under increasing scrutiny. Treatment and prevention of infectious and non-communicable diseases, demographic transitions, climate change and food scarcity are exerting new pressures. While many countries are showing increasing political commitment towards health, serious questions are being asked about equity. Health systems are complex adaptive systems and equitable health systems need serious investment by governments. Research has an important role to play in exploring, addressing and exposing inequities in health care yet very few tools are available.

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.