IFHE 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONGRESS
Anniversary congress sees attendees from60countries
The IFHE Congress 2020, which took place ‘online’ in late January this year, was themed ‘Global climate action in pandemic times – An unprecedented challenge’, and saw attendees enjoy four ‘inspiring and intense working days’ learning about the latest and most promising approaches to healthcare engineering, with more than 1200 participants from over 60 countries discussing and hearing about a broad range of topics, with a particular focus around climate change.
“Of course,” writes current IFHE President, Daniela Pedrini, of Congress host and Italian healthcare engineering organisation, SIAIS (Società Italiana dell’Architettura e dell’Ingegneria per la Sanità), “all of the topics covered at the 26th IFHE World Congress were discussed against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to impact on our world and our profession – in hospitals and in healthcare systems. This, coupled with the climate change crisis, which presents an enormous global challenge, lent the congress a greater urgency. Never before have we faced such a challenge to our lives and our living environment.”
Supporting climate change- related research
She continued: “The IFHE, as an organisation, continues to support research into climate change-related projects, highlighted via the Federation’s increasing presence and prominence online, and, of course, is always looking to share critical insights into pandemic solutions in healthcare. We saw many of these projects from across the globe explored in depth during the ‘virtual’ conference, switching in real time, via the online platform, from topic to topic, and from continent to continent.” Another key element of of the Congress was the IFHE’s continuing collaboration with the World Health Organization – one of the session themes – with contributions
Congress chair, Yoshihisa Hirayama.
from key WHO speakers, alongside presenters from the IFHE team. A range of collaborations took place throughout 2020 – and indeed are still ongoing – with projects across continents to find solutions for hospitals and other healthcare facilites.
A great learning curve
Daniela Pedrini said: “This experience of working with the WHO throughout the past year has been a great learning curve for the IFHE teams, and we much look forward to continuing to contribute to this effort, enhancing and deepening our relationship, particularly during the current pandemic, to help those in need at this challenging time.”
IFHE, as a federation, was established in Rome in 1970, starting out with the firm objective of helping engineers and technicians to share key information, and working experiences and practices, across
cultures. Daniela Pedrini said: “The founders of the IFHE could hardly have imagined, back in 1970, that 50 years later, the Federation would have expanded so much, incorporating engineers, architects, technicians, and health experts from around the world, and that among its key achievements would be collaborating with the WHO – including as part of the wider effort to address the twin global emergencies of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Those founding members could equally not have foreseen that the digital technology we now have at our fingertips could unite over 1200 people spanning nearly 60 countries in an online setting.”
A varied programme of presentations
The handover of the IFHE Presidency from Darryl Pitcher to Daniela Pedrini on the Congress’s first day.
The Congress presentations covered hospital design, the hospital environment, advanced technologies, facilities management, and ‘Sustainable and resilient hospitals’, with the final day featuring presentations from the WHO and the European Investment Bank. “Design, of course, has the power to positively impact on the various user groups within a hospital,” said Daniela Pedrini. “The presentations included insights into AI, innovation, healing architecture, and the operating theatre space, case studies on art in hospitals, and a post-occupancy evaluation of an evidence-based designed intensive and intermediate care unit. Other subjects covered included modern healthcare architecture in Brazil, light and architecture, sustainability and humanisation in a rehabilitation centre, in-house project
May 2021 Health Estate Journal 19
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