More than 12,000 attend APHA 138th Annual Meeting in Denver: Meeting spotlights social justice, reform
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* Michele Late

Public health professionals can help shape health policies in both their communities and at the national level, according to speakers at APHA’s 138th Annual Meeting, who called on participants to speak up, take action and work for equal access for all.

More than 12,000 public health workers came together in Denver Nov. 6–10 for the APHA Annual Meeting, which featured the latest health research, insights from state and federal leaders and the opportunity for participants to revitalize their passion for public health. From scientific sessions and roundtables to poster sessions and plenaries, the Annual Meeting’s theme of “Social Justice: A Public Health Imperative” was showcased throughout the five-day event, particularly during the meeting’s opening session on Sunday.

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Annual Meeting keynote speaker Cornel West inspires attendees at the opening session to become advocates for social justice.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

With inspirational speeches greeted by thunderous applause and multiple standing ovations, the opening session was a rallying cry for participants to embrace social justice and implement change.

Philosopher, author and activist Cornel West, PhD, energized and engaged meeting-goers with his rousing keynote speech on inequality in America, in which he traced the legacy of social injustice from past centuries to the modern era.

Despite gains that have been made, Americans live in a time in which there is “too much apathy, too much complacency, too many folk well-adjusted to injustice, too many folk well-adapted to indifference,” West said. He denounced a society in which there is “greed running amok,” and where federal money is spent on an unjust penal system and foreign wars but the vulnerable are overlooked.

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Some of the approximately 5,000 people who attended the opening session of APHA’s 138th Annual Meeting applaud.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

“What about poor people who need quality health, quality education, quality transportation?” West said, his voice rising. “That’s all we ask. Justice! Justice! That’s what it’s about.”

Referencing everyone from Duke Ellington to Emmett Till to bring his message home, West called for more attention to the plight of minorities — whether racial, religious or political — and to those he referred to as “everyday people.”

“We’ve seen indifference to our working people and the poor — turning our backs toward their plight and their predicament,” he said. “If you’re concerned about justice, you want fairness, and not just for your side of town.”

He asked meeting-goers to bear witness to justice “with deep compassion” and for them to say to themselves, “no matter how dark times are, I’m going to let my light shine, because I am a member of the American Public Health Association.”

West’s speech followed fellow keynoter William Jenkins, PhD, MPH, an epidemiologist and biostatistician who helped end the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, and who West noted “is still on fire for justice.”

Jenkins, who now works at the University of North Carolina Institute of African American Research, helped draw attention to the Tuskegee study while it was still ongoing in the 1960s. He warned that while the study is now used as a historical example, the underpinnings that allowed the study to occur still exist, noting that “things that can start with a good purpose can end up being a bad thing.”

“This study changed the way we do medical research in America, and that has been a good thing,” Jenkins said. “But there are some issues that still remain. Racism remains a major determinant of health and health care in America. Americans work very hard to pretend it no longer exists.”

Jenkins called for more attention and funding toward eliminating disparities, noting that “in order to solve health disparities, you have to fund the things you are not comfortable with.”

“There are people who would like to think that the Tuskegee study can’t happen again,” Jenkins said. “Well, if they mean it’s not going to be 1932 again, yeah, they’re right. But if they mean there aren’t researchers who care more about bugs and papers than people, I don’t think so. If they think that institutions don’t care about their own ego and about funds, I don’t think so. It’s still an issue.”

## Health reform law a topic of discussions

With the Annual Meeting occurring only a week after the November elections, the future of health reform and calls by some lawmakers to overturn the 2010 landmark reform legislation were frequent topics of conversation. In his opening session speech, APHA Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, FACEP (E), declared that “health reform is under attack,” and warned that supporters would not back down.

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From left, Carolyn Clancy, MD, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, speak at APHA’s Summit on Health Reform.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

The health reform law is “not perfect,” said Benjamin, citing gaps in coverage and provisions that restrict coverage for abortions, but “it is the law of the land, and we own it.”

“I have a message to those who want to repeal: Be careful what you ask for,” Benjamin said. “There are still 23 million people who did not get covered and we want them in…We have an idea that will lower costs and we want our public option. All I can say is open up the law, make my day.”

Outgoing APHA President Carmen Nevarez, MD, MPH, said that with the passage of health reform, “new opportunities have opened up that could change the way that we do public health work,” but that “true health reform in this country really does have a long way to go.” She said the November elections represent a “special threat” to gains that have been made in public health in recent years, and called for more work to expand access to everyone in America, including immigrants.

“I will be proudest of my country when it acts on the principle that everyone who lives, works and plays here deserves to have the option to participate in a society in which all of us can be healthy,” Nevarez said. “Our theme is social justice — let us act on it.”

Howard Koh, MD, MPH, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said that fully implementing the health reform law “will not be easy,” noting that “we are being tested for our level of commitment.” He praised public health workers as the “professionals that make things happen,” rather than watch from the sidelines.

“We are standing together because it is absolutely critical to keep our public health community strong as we embark on this next chapter of our public health journey during this unprecedented time,” Koh said.

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Opening session keynote speaker William Jenkins focused his speech on disparities, calling for more funding and attention.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

Discussions and debates on health reform continued throughout the remaining days of the Annual Meeting, carrying on to the closing session on Wednesday, which served as a call to action to participants as they headed back home to their daily public health work.

Speakers, including incoming APHA President Linda Rae Murray, MD, MPH, called on attendees to rally around the cause of social justice. She asked people to talk to everyone they can, from pastors to neighbors to co-workers, about public health and the need to keep health reform in place.

“This attempt to drive our nation’s health backwards should not be a surprise,” Murray said. “But I’m not worried. We’re public health. We will not be bamboozled.”

Closing session panelists, discussing state and national reform progress, cited concerns that legislators in the House of Representatives will work to defund portions of the health reform law. It is up to public health workers to keep up pressure on Congress and prevent such efforts, said panelist Paul Jarris, MD, MBA, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

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At the closing session, from left, Paul Jarris of ASTHO; John Colmers, MPH, Maryland’s secretary of health and mental hygiene; and Joanne Silberner, NPR health correspondent.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

“What are you going to do differently on Monday?” Jarris asked the audience. “We’ve learned a lot this week. If we don’t change what we’re doing we will have missed a historic opportunity.”

Echoing the panelists’ calls for action, APHA’s Benjamin asked health workers to meet with their elected officials, tell them what they want, and to keep pressure on them if they “don’t vote the way you think they should.”

“Get off your butts and into the streets,” Benjamin said. “Demand health, and demand social justice.”

Reflecting the importance of reform to public health, APHA held its first-ever Summit on Health Reform on Nov. 6 in Denver, attracting national and state leaders and more than 400 participants (see related story, Page 1). Health reform will also be the topic of a June meeting sponsored by the Association. APHA’s first-ever Midyear Meeting, “Implementing Health Reform — A Public Health Approach,” will be held June 22–24 in Chicago. More details on the Midyear Meeting will be announced in an upcoming issue of *The Nation’s Health.*

## Meeting-goers engage in APHA social media

From Facebook and Twitter to Flickr and Foursquare, participation in social media at APHA’s Annual Meeting swelled to its highest-ever level in Denver, with up-to-the minute reports and interaction from attendees enriching the event.

Twitter users were particularly active during the Annual Meeting, posting about 5,000 tweets with the Annual Meeting hashtag, #apha10, during the conference — a marked increase from the 2009 meeting. Meeting attendees also used social media to post photos, leave comments and hold conversations.

Interest in APHA’s Annual Meeting Blog soared this year, with more than 13,000 visits made in November to the blog’s 55 posts. The entries can be read online at [http://aphaannualmeeting.blogspot.com](http://aphaannualmeeting.blogspot.com). Comments are also welcome on the blog entries.

Meeting-goers who took photos are encouraged to add them to APHA’s Flickr pool, online at [www.flickr.com/groups/aphapublichealth](http://www.flickr.com/groups/aphapublichealth).

Also online are videos from APHA’s opening session, including speeches by West, Jenkins, Nevarez and Koh, which can be viewed at [www.youtube.com/aphadc](http://www.youtube.com/aphadc).

Additionally during the meeting, attendees raised $5,500 through APHA’s annual Help Us Help Them campaign. The donation was presented to Denver’s Padres Unidos, an organization that works for equality and justice in education, racial justice for youth, immigrant rights and health care for all.

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APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin at the Denver meeting’s opening session.

Photo courtesy EZ Event Photography

In recognition of the Annual Meeting, Denver’s City Council passed a proclamation on Nov. 8 that honored both the convention and the Association. The proclamation called special attention to the role social justice plays “in advancing public environmental health efforts for all communities to eliminate health disparities.”

The 2011 APHA Annual Meeting, which will have a theme of “Healthy Communities Promote Healthy Minds and Bodies,” will be held Oct. 29–Nov. 2 in Washington, D.C. Abstract submissions are now being accepted for the meeting. For full details on the meeting abstract submission process, see Page 2.

For more on APHA’s Annual Meetings, visit the website at [www.apha.org/meetings](http://www.apha.org/meetings), call 202-777-2742 or e-mail comments{at}apha.org.

*Charlotte Tucker contributed to this report.*

## Youth group scours meeting expo for information via scavenger hunt

The Annual Meeting Expo in Denver was the site of a scavenger hunt for a group of young people learning about public health. APHA’s Community-Based Public Health Caucus used the expo as a way to teach members of its new Youth Council — which held its first meeting in Denver — about public health.

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Participants in a scavenger hunt organized by APHA’s Community-Based Public Health Caucus show their finds.

Photo courtesy Community-Based Public Health Caucus

The council, made up of 13 youth, ages 13–24, was given public health-related clues and challenged to find the answers at the expo.

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association