The 3 day International Congress on Rural Health and Medicine, which is 18th in the series, will be inaugurated at the auspicious hands of His Excellency 
, in the august presence of Mr. Manohar Parrikar, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Goa at 10.00 am on 10th December 2012 at Dinanath Mangeshkar Kala Mandir, Kala Academy, Goa. Dr. Kalam will also be delivering the Keynote address. Dr. Ashok Vikhe Patil, Chairman and Shri Ramakant Khalap, Co-chairman of the Organizing Committee will be welcoming the delegates on behalf of the organizers, collaborators and knowledge partners of the conference.
Over 500 delegates & 300 speakers representing medical, public health, allied health sciences, academic and research, government, non-government, UN, philanthropic and bi-lateral agencies from over 25 countries – Australia, Austria, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Poland, Republic of Korea, Serbia, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, USA are participating in the conference.
The Conference is organized by International Association of Rural Health & Medicine (IARM), Japan, Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences – Deemed University (PIMS-DU), Loni, Maharashtra and International Arbitration Centre (IAC), Goa. Government of Goa, Goa University and Goa Medical College are local supporters. Knowledge partners & cosponsors of the congress include World Bank, Medical Council of India, Action Aid India, ICMR, Dr. Vikhe Patil Foundation, Mapusa Urban Cooperative Bank Goa Ltd., Appolo Pharmacy, Dreager India Ltd. and Torrent Pharma.
The congress is aimed to address various key challenges & issues of rural health under the main theme “Challenges of Health in the Global Village”, and promote dialogue, partnership among doers & policy makers for improving health of people of rural and remote areas of the world in a unified and holistic way. The health of the people, where ever they live – developed & developing countries – urban & rural areas, are affected by man made policies, actions and natural disasters. The policies, systems on access to universal health care, gender justice, occupational health of farming community, migration, effects of information technology, bio-technology revolution, environmental & global warming have made the world into one global village. The boundaries of nations have collapsed and the problems of the world have to be addressed in an integrated manner.
At the end of the three day deliberations, the organizers and participants of the conference are expected to come out with a Goa Declaration on “The Rural Health Initiative on Global Village – Call for Action”.
