New York Declaration for Sustainable Population Health

The second edition of the Global Population Health Summit was held in cooperation with the Greater New York Dental Meeting, accredited by the International Congress for Health Specialties – ICHS and under the theme “Sustainable Population Health”. 

The summit aims to discuss on improving the level of population health and establishing essential global fundamentals for a sustainable healthcare system, as well as to identify capabilities and expertise in the healthcare sector to tackle the rising challenges to sustainable population health. 

The Summit serves as a global scientific platform to support evidence-based discussions, present solutions and recommendations to maintain the rights, safety, dignity, continuity, and well-being of the global community. 

To conclude the second edition of the summit, the speakers and participants deliberated and agreed that there is a need to protect and develop the healthcare system in order to provide the possible care to patients facing gender-related issues and psychological co-morbidities, while raising their awareness of the best possible treatment, which can be determined by healthcare professionals. On the basis of this identification, it was agreed to publish the New York Declaration for Sustainable Population Health.

The following statements constitute the declaration. 

Statement 1 - Policy and Strategy

• Develop a safe platform for scientific research, discussions and treatments to provide better care and enhance population health for gender related issues.
• Enhance communication and workflows between government, law and policy makers, operators, regulators and insurance on medical treatments, and research for new approaches and to strengthen evidence based clinical practice. 

Statement 2 - Scientific Research, Analysis and Evidence Based Treatment

• Treatment of Gender related issues is a long process which requires research and analysis of the patient’s background, history and the full involvement of the family for support and decision making.
• Rushing gender affirmative treatment on young children and adolescents can result in long-term and permanent effects that will affect the patient’s physical and mental health while the physical growth process is not yet completed.
• There is a need to set up a clinical register for patients that have undergone gender affirmative treatment that will gather data on a national level to help refine research and develop future treatments. 

Statement 3 - Media & Technology

• Regulate and maintain robust communication of truthful and accurate science and useful consumer information including public health campaigns from trusted sources by enforcing the need to provide evidence-based information to protect young people from ideologies and fake information that would contribute to the increase in gender related challenges and worsening mental health burdens while weakening the role of families.
• Educate children, young people and vulnerable adults in media literacy and development of critical thinking skills. 

Statement 4 - Societal, Cultural, Political & Academia

• The influence by lobbyist which can be driven by commercial benefits on the treatment course of patients with gender dysphoria and related mental health conditions must be better identified and controlled.
• There is a need for parents, healthcare professionals, academic institutions across its spectrum and governments to better work together to educate parents and patients on blockers, hormones, gender re-assignment surgeries and other treatment courses in order to make a better-informed decision, as such treatments are not reversible and have recognized long term negative side effects deteriorating patient’s health status. This multisectoral cooperation is also critical; to overcome the challenges posed by emerging societal trends exacerbating gender and mental health related issues

Final Statement

The healthcare professionals and speakers participating in the summit concluded through their evidence based scientific discussions, that more protection is needed for families and society from extreme beliefs that cause harm. In particular, false information disseminated in the media across different platforms targeting individuals of all ages, which exacerbates mental and psychological health problems aimed at weakening the family structure, and leading to the emergence of gender related issues. Therefore, joint efforts are required by parents, doctors, academic institutions and governments to enhance research, protect healthcare and education systems and schools, enabling them to reduce the challenges that young people are facing in relation to gender identity disorders.