We look forward to meeting you in Taiwan from April 11th to 13th in 2012. Also known as Formosa, Taiwan is a beautiful island rich with spectacular natural scenery and lively culture. The conference will be held in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, a modern metropolis full of energy and vibrant spirits. The main conference will take place at the Taipei International Conference Center (TICC), easily accessible by public transportation within the city.

The 20th International Conference on Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (HPH) is a landmark achievement for two reasons. First, it will be the first ever HPH conference to be held outside Europe, taking place in Taipei, Taiwan. Second, being the 20th year of the conference, it is time to reflect upon what HPH has originally set out to do, what the network has achieved so far, and what challenges and changes for the future lie ahead.

The International WHO Network of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (HPH) was initiated by the WHO European Branch in 1990. The network advocates health promotion in and by hospitals as a strategy to improve the health gain of patients, their relatives, staff, community and bystanders. The core beliefs of HPH include a vision, a concept, a set of 18 core strategies and five standards that can be linked with an organization's quality management. Please visit the International HPH Network and WHO-HPH Collaborating Center Vienna for more information.

We invite you to submit abstracts in the following general topics:

Achieving Millennium Development Goals: Vital for Global Health Equity
Armed Conflict and Health Impacts (including Mental Health)
Climate Change and the Impact on Strategies for Global Health
Forums for Public Health In Africa
Global Health, State of the World Economy, Rapid Urbanization and Health System
Health Equity – A Global Social Responsibility
Health Insurance, Social Health Insurance, Micro Insurance; Implications for Public Health
Health Systems Development – Integrating Public Health
HIV/AIDS – Own, Scale-up and Sustain
Household Food Security and Public Health
Human Resources in Public Health; Towards Workforce Strategies
Maternal and Child Health – Achieving MDGs & Sustaining Them
Non-communicable Diseases – Innovative Approaches for Health Promotion
Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness: Lessons learned and challenges ahead
Primary Health Care – A Feasible Road Toward the MDGs
Public Health Laws and Regulations
Resetting Financial Aid for Global Health
Sexual Health and Public Health
Strengthening Capacity Building for Public Health- Public Health Education and Workforce Needs
Strengthening Public Health Organizations for Global Health
The Health of Indigenous and Ethnic Minorities (including Traditional Medicine)
The Public Health Response to Migration

Further to the success of the first five series, the sixth conference will be held in Fethiye, the nature and culture-oriented region of Turkey, once again hosted by the journal Anatolia. The aim of the conference is to provide a forum for research collaboration and mentoring of emerging tourism researchers in order to share their research experience. The organising committee invites scholars from tourism studies and the wider social sciences to join. Papers can be submitted for the following two categories:
Thesis/dissertations: Open only for graduate students (e.g. Masters, MBA, MPhil, PhD) to reflect the summary of their thesis or dissertations in terms of the development of hypotheses and methodology and showing the way how it may contribute to the existing literature.
Research papers: Open both for graduates and faculty members who are encouraged to submit both their work-in-progress or completed papers designed either as conceptual or empirical. This category welcomes the submisison of papers with single or multiple authors.

Değerli Katılımcılar,

Yaşanabilir dünyamızı yıllar boyunca kendi ellerimizle tahrip ettikten ve doğal varlıklarımızın birçoğunu kaybettikten sonra çevremize sahip çıkmamız gerektiğini anladık. Özellikle felaket senaryolarının çoklukla zikredilmeye başlandığı günümüzde kendimiz ve gelecek nesillerimiz için bir şeyler yapmak zorunda olduğumuz açıkça ortaya çıktı. Teknolojinin hayatımızı önemli oranda yönlendirdiği günümüzde doğal çevreye özlemin her alanda giderek arttığı görülmektedir. Sağlık, beslenme ve günlük tüm ihtiyaçlarda ekolojik ve doğal ürünlerin tercih edildiği, tatil anlayışlarında eko turizm uygulamalarının ön plana çıktığı, devlet politikalarında çevre ile ilgili konulara daha fazla yer verilmeye başlandığı günümüzde ÇEVRE ve EKOLOJİ ile ilgili çalışmaların öneminin arttığı bir gerçektir.
Bu anlamda, düzenlediğimiz EKOLOJİ 2012 SEMPOZYUMU?nun tüm çevreler tarafından ilgi ile izleneceği, sunulacak bildirilerin ilgili yerlere önemli mesajlar ileteceğini düşünüyoruz. Sempozyumda sunulacak bildiri özetlerinin tamamının ve seçilen bildirilerin tam metinlerinin BİBAD (Biyoloji Bilimleri Araştırma Dergisi) özel sayısında yayınlanmasının ülkemizdeki çevre sorunlarının doğru tespiti ve bilimsel kaynaklı çözüm önerilerinin ortaya konulması açısından oldukça önemli olacağı kanısındayız.
Birçok kaynakta dünyamız için felaket senaryolarının üretildiği 2012 yılında düzenlediğimiz bu sempozyuma katılarak değerli fikirlerinizi bizimle paylaşmanızdan ve sizleri 3?5 Mayıs 2012 tarihleri arasında Serhat Şehrimiz Kilis?te ağırlamaktan onur duyarız.

Düzenleme Kurulu Adına,
Doç.Dr. Nazım ŞEKEROĞLU
Sempozyum Başkanı

Health issues caused by environmental problems such as global warming, pollutions and natural and environmental disasters are a growing concern worldwide. Human activities results in a seriously negative effect on the environment that drove to human health disturbances. For example, global warming caused by deforestation and many industrial practices could increase the risk of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue, and water borne diseases such as cholera. Pollutions from pesticides residue can cause health problems such as birth defects, cancer, allergies and other effects that might occur over a long period of time. Air pollution from motor vehicles, power plants and various industrial activities can cause respiratory illness such as asthma, COPD and allergies. In addition, natural and environmental disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, flooding, nuclear explosion and accidental releases of toxic gases can cause major loss of human lives and livelihoods as well as destruction of economic and social infrastructure.

The impacts of these problems on human health could be avoided through the maintenance of strong public health programs such as education and promotion. Thus, School of Health Sciences and School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia would like to gather all environment and health scientists, policy makers and academicians to pursue their ideas and research findings regarding environmental health issues related to environmental problems to be discussed and disseminated in the upcoming EHC 2012 delegates.