The excitement is rising here at WebsEdge as we get ready for one of our favorite events of the year – the Global Health Council’s annual conference.  The theme this year is Securing a Healthier Future in a Changing World and as usual it takes place at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Washington DC.

We’ve been covering the Council’s annual event as Global Health TV now for six years. It’s always a really interesting mix of speakers and networking sessions and I’m sure this year will be no exception. But the theme this year is different. It takes a look at the challenges facing health systems in developing countries as population’s age.

It’s an issue we’re all only too familiar with in our own countries. But when resources are truly scarce the problem is a lot more acute.  It’s hard enough keeping people alive when faced with diseases such as AIDS and Malaria. But it’s a whole different set of challenges when you need to deal with non-communicable diseases such as cancer and kidney disease. And it has a whole set of implications for health spending and capacity building.

As always we’re not going to Washington empty handed. Whilst I can’t wait to meet and interview old friends and new I also take great delight in showing the case study films we’ve made from literally all over the world. And this year is no exception with organizations represented as diverse as the World Bank Foundation and the Aga Khan Network. And countries visited including South Africa, Afghanistan and Mali.

One thing that I have noticed change over the years is the audience. The conference itself has always drawn a devout following of doctors, aid agencies, NGO’s and other global health professionals. But the rise of social media has meant an ever-engaged population. This year, for example, the number of people following our progress on The Lancet has risen to over 300, 000 a month. It used to be you couldn’t get an audience for your global health message – but that’s  changed. We’re no longer preaching to the choir.

So it is time to pack our bags. We’re going somewhere very familiar but to an event that in many ways has changed out of all recognition since six years ago.

Follow us on Twitter @GlobalHealth_TV and watch our films and reports on www.globalhealthtv.com

Well I’m writing this coming back from the Canadian Conference on Global Health in Ottawa. And what an interesting conference it’s been. We’ve been broadcasting Global Health TV at the event and have been lucky enough to meet some great people there.

Obviously lots of topics to get our teeth into. For the event we produced films from all around the world and in Ottawa we managed to interview government officials and NGO’s from several countries. And being the first major conference after September’s UN review on the millennium goals lots of soul searching into progress fighting the major diseases.

But two issues really captured my attention in Ottawa. I was particularly struck by the focus on equity. Now many of you will know that the Canadian Society on International Health – the organizers of this week’s event – already work very closely on this issue with the World Health Organisation.

But for me it was a new way of looking at things. When you consider progress on fighting a disease – HIV/AIDS for example – or look at health provision in a particular country, don’t focus on the average. Don’t ask yourself are we saving more lives or raising living standards, ask yourself what we’re doing for the poorest 10% in that society. Because the truth is that even whilst we’re making progress overall it is often the poorest and most vulnerable we’re letting down.

I was also taken by the focus on, and passion for, Pathways to Global Health. There was a recognition at the conference that in many ways Global Health as a discipline is driven by the passion of students. And whilst this is a good thing if the young people aren’t able to chart a route through they’ll become disillusioned and give up. So a new focus has been placed on helping students to plot their course towards a successful career and to agree a set of protocols to enable them to work effectively overseas.

So lots of enthusiasm and a passion to get things done. And perhaps even more impressive a specific set of goals for next year’s meeting. See you in Montreal!

So what’s your year been like so far? If you’re anything like us you’ve seen off the snow – though it doesn’t always feel like that – and you’re looking forward to Spring and what lies ahead.

For us here at WebsEdge it’s a busy time. We’re working on a new initiative this year - the Local Government Challenge - where we bring two teams of aspirant local authority chief executives together to work on a number of leadership challenges. It’s fun and exciting and a very different way of seeing who is up to the mark. If you haven’t been following it please take a look here on our local government channel website.

And we’re working on a whole host of public sector television projects here in the UK. Later this month we’re covering conferences on people management and culture for the local government channel. And then in April it’s the first ever Surgical TV for the Association of Surgeons in Britain and Ireland. And whilst the UK public sector market remains challenging there’s still plenty for us to get our teeth into.

But a growing amount of our work is in the US now. In June for example we have two major conferences to cover for our Global Health TV Channel - Women Deliver and the Global Health Council’s Annual Conference. Both take place in Washington DC and both tackle progress on meeting the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

These are obviously exciting projects. And the filming for them takes us all over the world. One segment alone takes us from the US to Haiti, Afghanistan and Malawi! The logistics are challenging but we really enjoy making such relevant content.

So it’s already been an exciting year and we’re not even a quarter through. Let’s not kid ourselves - it’s going to remain economically challenging for some time to come but I can’t help but feel that as the world continues it’s journey out of recession opportunity is still out there as long as you know where to find it.

When the average American watches the evening news there is precious little international coverage. And you can bet that what there is pays scant regard to the millions of lives affected each year in the world’s poorest countries by disease and malnutrition.

And it’s the same when it comes to newspapers. Throughout the United States thousands of editorial jobs have been lost, budgets cut and revenue restricted which has led to a narrowing of coverage. And this means less room for stories about the world’s poor who after all don’t vote and don’t buy advertising.

And here lies the paradox. Because the United States is also responsible for spending hundreds of millions of dollars on fighting these killer diseases in the developing world. The Government through its various aid projects and wealthy private sector organizations such as the Gates Foundation.

So how do we square this circle? There is clearly both the interest and the money to fight disease but no place for coverage in traditional media. Part of the answer here lies in new technology. Take Global Health TV as an example. The channel tackles many of the issues talked about here and is funded via several initiatives. But even so being a web based channel it suffers from the normal competition driving traffic to its site.

So enter the EdgePlayer. Global Health TV has transformed its reach by putting video players on high profile sites whilst retaining control of the content played on them. Take a look at thelancet.com and globalhealthcouncil.org as examples. And the result is over 100, 000 people each month tuning into coverage on global health. And given the problems we have to deal with that coverage is invaluable.

We’re no strangers to global distribution here at WebsEdge. Our programmes are produced and distributed all round the world.

But even we were staggered by the success of our latest venture. We’ve teamed up with The Lancet to distribute our Global Health TV Channel through their website. It’s a nifty bit of kit. It’s effectively a video player with a number of sources, which sits on their home page – please go and check it out for yourselves. www.thelancet.com

Now what’s really interested me is the reach the player has achieved. Within a week of launch it’s not just the number of visitors that got my attention but also the number of countries it was viewed in. We now have Global Health TV viewers in over 155 different countries. Now that’s incredible.

And I think we’re seeing the beginning of a new trend here. You see the beauty of our player – we call it the EdgePlayer – is that you can give it a new skin and put it on any relevant site. You feed the content to it from a central location thus creating a virtual community for your video unobtainable from a traditional site or web based TV channel.

This has been a wake up call for us here at WebsEdge. Like many other media companies we have long produced vast amounts of content destined for both traditional television and web based channels. But all that content has required the viewer – in some way – to come to us. Now we’re able to go out to that viewer wherever they may be. I hear Global Health TV is big in Argentina right now and I for one can hardly wait to see where it goes next.

If you’ve been reading our blog regularly, you’ll have noticed the recent swell of posts around our trip to Africa to work with The Global Health Council. If you are new to the site, please read the WebsEdge in Africa blog here.

We’ve recently created a video upload facility, From the Field on Global Health TV, an online video site used to help raise awareness of health issues in the developing world.

The concept behind Global Health TV is that online video is the perfect medium to connect those throughout the world who are in a position to help. Although distributing video through mainstream media can reach a massive audience, online distribution reaches a very finely targeted crowd, who are more likely to contribute to the cause.

Mainstream media is also great at telling the big story, but often misses some of the smaller, but equally important stories. One of the benefits of Global Health TV is that we have been able to reach out and capture many stories directly from the communities most affected.

Global Health TV will also benefit the cause because it is a multidirectional form of communication: once videos are uploaded, the community can comment and interact with each other. Utilizing the social aspect of online video will connect dedicated advocates, strengthen the overall support group, and grow the community dedicated to social change.

So go on then don’t be shy! Go on to www.globalhealthtv.com and comment on the work that’s there and share videos with your friends and colleagues. And encourage people working in the field to upload their videos to carry on the conversation.