On 15-17 November, AIM in partnership with its Italian member FIMIV will organize in Rome different meetings in the frame of its Extraordinary General Assembly. On Wednesday, AIM members and invited speakers will discuss on youth and mutualism. Leading international experts will talk on Thursday morning about rethinking policy to support sustainable access to pharmaceuticals, and on the balance between the roles of mutual benefit societies and those of the private sector in the afternoon. The meetings will end with a seminar on health workforce and ageing on Friday.

The AIM Secretariat has prepared short paragraphs detailing the event’s key meetings. Note that most events are open to AIM members only.

AIM Board of Directors and Extraordinary General Assembly draft programme – 15-17 November, Centro Congressi Cavour, Via Cavour 50/A, Rome*

Wednesday 15 November

14.00 – 16.00 – Joint Latin America/Africa and Middle East region meeting

The joint meeting of the Latin America and Africa and Middle East committees will focus this time on youth and mutualism, in an effort to have a discussion about the projects that mutuals roll out to either support youth as a specific group in the population, engage youth or about how mutuals can rejuvenate their personnel. During the meeting, we will have input from members from Latin America and Europe on the topic. Matthias Savignac, AIM Vice-President in charge of International Collaboration will also give an introduction on how to guarantee the sustainability of the mutualist movement through a greater involvement of young people and share the French experience on the issue. Translation will be available from and into English, Spanish and French.

16.00 – 18.00 – Regional committee meetings

***

Thursday 16 November

9.30 – 12.30 – European Affairs Committee meeting

The European Affairs Committee meeting will focus on Rethinking pharmaceutical policy in the frame of sustainable access to pharmaceuticals. There is an ongoing discussion about price levels of pharmaceuticals. Excessive price levels, aggressive pricing strategies by pharmaceutical companies have been exposed by many observers that alert about the danger that price levels might pose to the sustainability of health systems, while AIM itself drafted a paper on fair pharmaceutical prices. Our speakers’ panel, including World Health Organization, national regulatory and health-technology assessment agencies, and AIM members will give their perspective in the frame of this debate. Translation from and into: French, Spanish, German, English

14.00 – 17.30 – Board of Directors and Extraordinary General Assembly Meetings

The Board of Directors meeting of AIM will open with a discussion on Health and Long-term care and how to strike the right balance between roles for mutual benefit societies and private, for profit insurers. The Italian Minister for Health Beatrice Lorenzin has been invited to give the keynote speech to the meeting. Economics Professor Zamagni of the University of Bologna and internationally renowned expert in the field of social economy and mutualism will share his views on the topic.Translation from and into: French, Spanish, German, English.

19.30 – 21.30 – Cocktail Reception

***

Friday 17 November 

9.30 – 13.00 – Seminar on the impact of an ageing population on the healthcare workforce

The seminar aims at providing a general picture of the European healthcare workforce today and of the impact that the ageing of populations and the consequent rise in chronic diseases and ill-health in general will have on it. Discussions will deal with questions such as what skills the workforce needs  to deal with many more elderly, but also whether an ageing society leads to workforce shortages and how that issue can be tackled or addressed, including via increased cross-border mobility of health workers. The keynote speakers to the event will be Michel Van Hoegaerden, Programme Manager at the European Union Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting and Dr. Barbara Polistena, from the University Tor Vergata in Rome. These introductions will be followed by the presentation of different best practices.Translation from and into: French, Spanish, German, English.

* Note that most events listed above are open to AIM members only, the Friday seminar on the impact of an ageing population on the healthcare workforce is open to external organisations too, upon request and after confirmation of registration by the AIM secretariat (secretariat@aim-mutual.org).