Experts gather at U of M to discuss global development

Experts and lawmakers gather at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs Monday to discuss Minnesota's role in global development.

The conference is called "Global Health and Food Security."

Alex Palacios is a representative of Washington D.C.-based Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) Alliance. He'll lead a conference panel on global health problems that come with an increasingly interconnected world.

"The conference is an opportunity to take the issue outside of say Geneva or Washington or New York, the major centers where the United Nations is or where the World Health Organization is and take it into the heartland of American, which coincidentally in the case of Minneapolis or just Minnesota broadly, it is itself a global health center," Palacios said.

Conference attendees will also discuss how Minnesota can help with global food shortages, pandemics, and a scarce supply of health workers.