What a day! It was an interesting but slightly exhausting day at the 30th floor of the Thomson Reuters building at Times Square: no less than five hour-and-a-half sessions on how to engage business in addressing global health issues. What possible role can the private sector play in the fight against diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS? And what can we, as an NGO, learn from the business sector? Two of many questions that were dealt with today and they all come down to one thing: we are in this together and only if you team up - governments, the private sector and the NGOs - we can really make a change. As Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General, wrote in his welcoming letter in the program guide: "Together, we can amplify the impact that businesses around the globe have in addressing global health challenges and making the world a healthier place." Tomorrow there will be another day of connecting companies, individuals, ideas and knowledge and I'm looking forward to it. As I saw today, there's a lot to be shared, learned and said in order to design the plans for the future. A healthier future.

 
A blurry but still amazing view from the 30th floor

 
A very knowledgeable panel, including Michel Sidibé - UNAIDS Executive Director, on how to reduce the inequities in women's and girls' access to health and opportunity