Norwegian Forum for Global Health Research

Norwegian Forum for Global Health Research (The Forum) The Forum was initiated in 2005 as an interdisciplinary network of individuals and Norwegian institutions working with, or having an interest in, global health and health research. The Forums statutes were approved by the first General Assembly in 2006. The purpose of the Forum is to promote research and education of high quality with the aim of improving health and health services for marginalized population groups in low and middle-income countries. The Forum functions as a common platform for collaboration, for consolidating global health as a field of academic studies within each institution as well as in the broader Norwegian context. This network provides a forum for exchanging ideas and views on research and methodology, but is also an arena for collaboration on issues related to academic training and curriculum development. The individual members and the institutions constitute the General Assembly, which is the highest authority of the Forum. The main categories of institutional members are universities, university colleges and other institutions involved in Global Health research. It also includes other institutions, governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations. Government bodies such as the Research Council of Norway (RCN), the Directorate for Health and Norad have participated as observers since Forum was established. Activities in the project period 2013-2016: The Forum has been a co-organizer of the 8th and 9th Conference on Global Health and Vaccination Research (of Globvac, The Research Council of Norway) which took place in Bergen and Oslo, respectively. In Bergen, the topic was Implementation Research in Global Health. In Oslo, the topic was How can research inform the Post 2015 agenda for women's and children's health and rights, and this was the biggest Globvac conference yet, with more than 350 participants. The Forum also hosted a symposium on Climate and health in this conference. In 2016, Forum arranged a national conference in Bergen, together with the Norwegian Network for Health and Development (NHU, named: Global networks with impact. The Forum members have been active in contributing to ongoing initiatives, such as giving input and submitting a statement to the Vision2030 and hosting a session at the 9th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health (6-10 Sept 2015 in Basel). This was done in collaboration with researchers from all over the country of Norway. The Forum has been active in developing a plan for a national research school in Norway, and made an application for this work. The Forum has also been an active part of a process in developing a national institute on global health. The Forum has also collaborated with and supported a group of young medical doctors and students in forming a Youth Commission for Essential Medicines which was run alongside the Lancet Commission of the same name. The Forum has had a Secretariat located at Centre for International Health, University of Bergen. This Secretariat has two 20% positions have been financed by the Forum. They have administered meetings, conferences, seminars and a Forum website (www.globalhealth.no). The Secretariat is very important for the networking, as it is a challenge to keep the communication with all member institutions alive. The Forum has a Board that is responsible for all activities of the Forum, and which has become the most important meeting arena for leaders of Global Health research units in Norway. The Board and its observer members meet physically twice a year. In addition, the Board has telephone conference meetings monthly during the main part of the year. The representatives of the present Board are from University of Bergen, University of Tromsø, University of Oslo, NTNU, Bergen University College and Sør-Trøndelag University College, in addition to SINTEF and the Norwegian Institute for Public Health.

The Norwegian Forum for Global Health Research was initiated in 2005 as an interdisciplinary network of individuals and Norwegian institutions that work with, or have an interest in global health and health research. The Forum has since then been a platf orm of great importance for discussions among academic leaders of research units, with and without educational mandate and a base for interaction with relevant government bodies. The Forum is currently in the process of developing a program of action to b uild on our strengths, take advantage of our opportunities, address the weaknesses and prepare for possible external threats for the next few years.