Crónica del Comité Organizador de las XLIII Jornadas de Economía de la Salud (San Cristóbal de La Laguna, 26-28 de junio de 2024)

When Anna García Altés proposed to me that Tenerife should be the candidate to organise the XLIII AES Conference, I had several compelling reasons for accepting. First, because if it is always a pleasure to meet so many valued colleagues of the Association at the Conference every year, it would also be a pleasure to be able to host such an event. Second, because I believe that one of the keys to the scientific and social success of this Association is the commitment shown by its members to the organisation, which extends as a positive externality influencing decisions such as this one. Third, because the AES Conference has always had the invaluable help and experience of the Board of Directors and the Secretariat of AES. And, of course, I was also excited that it was the first time in Tenerife. These reasons were joined by others that I was able to find out after the planning and holding of the Conference.

We feared that the distance and the poorer connections with certain provinces could be a handicap, but fortunately, probably also due to the excellent programme prepared by the Scientific Committee and the natural appeal of the “Fortunate Islands”, the barrier of 300 delegates from all over the country was surpassed, as well as from other countries such as Brazil, Ecuador, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom or Uruguay. After months of work by the Organising Committee in planning the Conference, seeing them all together here was the greatest reward. This did not prevent us from noticing the absence of some valued colleagues whom we hope to meet again in Madrid and others who have left us forever; in our memories, many of us remembered the recent and premature departure of our dear colleague José Luís Elexpuru, with whom we shared so many good times at the AES Conference.

Image 1: First day, accreditation of attendees.

The Conference had its technical advance on March 15 in the Auditorium of the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Sra. de Candelaria (HUNSC), in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Technical Day The conference dealt with an important and current issue such as the lack of hospital beds due to a lack of alternative resources to care for dependent people. It also featured a panel of speakers of the highest level, who combined scientific knowledge on the subject with experience in the management of the services involved. The conference did not disappoint, considering the number of people who attended and the interesting debate that was generated.

Image 2: attendees at the Technical Conference at HUNSC.

After the excellent pre-congress workshop on Tuesday 26 June entitled “Causality and Machine Learning in R” and masterfully taught by Miquel Serra, the congress started on Wednesday 27 in the morning in the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism of the University of La Laguna (venue of the Conference). The opening ceremony was attended by the rector of the University of La Laguna, Francisco García; the Minister of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, Esther Monzón; the CEO of Education for Prevention of the Island Council of Tenerife, Juan Manuel Acosta; and the three presidents, Anna García-Altés, Miguel Ángel Negrín and myself. The opening was followed by the first plenary conference by Cristina Herrero (president of AIReF). A congress with the motto “Public policies for health: perspectives from the economy and health” could not have a better introduction than her conference on health expenditure, public finances and the need for evaluation. From that moment until Friday, the Conference developed the magnificent program prepared by the Scientific Committee, with a new plenary conference, the presentation tables, communication tables and the The Speaker’s Corner.

Image 3: opening ceremony of the Conference in the Aula Magna of the Faculty.

The social events began on Wednesday afternoon with a reception and guided tour of the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna – a World Heritage Site – followed by a cocktail party at the Museum of History and Anthropology of Tenerife, in the Casa Lercaro. The cocktail party was enlivened by the Canarian group “Índice y Medio” and had an unexpected companion in the cold of La Laguna for these summer dates. The social programme ended on Thursday with the official dinner and subsequent dance at the Hotel Mencey in Santa Cruz. After the awards ceremony and closing of the Conference on Friday (chaired by Anna, Miguel Ángel and the Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, José Adrián García Rojas), some fifty attendees decided to extend their stay on the Island a little longer, to take a guided tour of the Teide Observatory.

Special mention should be made of the ceremony for the appointment of Bea González as a new Honorary Member of AES, which took place on Thursday 27th. An emotional – and also fun – ceremony that filled the Aula Magna of the Faculty and included inspiring speeches by some of those who best know Bea’s personal and professional career: Vicente Ortún, Carolina Darias, Suni Beerli and, of course, Néboa Zozaya, who also had a lot to do with the elegance and care with which this special ceremony was designed. To the applause of the full Aula Magna, Bea spoke with the energy of someone doing so for the first time. I think that for all of us who were there, it was very exciting to witness such a well-deserved recognition in a person who is also so loved and admired at AES. The sculpture that was presented to her was the best expression of this recognition.

Image 4: Bea’s appointment as an AES Honor Society member.

Image 5: Bea with the sculpture that was given to her as an AES Honor Society member.

Being involved in the organization of the Conference gives a perspective that is more difficult to appreciate from other angles and you value more the importance of some collaborations that I would like to mention here. Firstly, thanks to all the public and private entities that have collaborated or financed some activities of these Conferences, essential to complete the financing of a conference of these characteristics. Secondly, a special thanks to the University of La Laguna and the Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism. In an interesting book recently published by our colleague and member of the Organizing Committee, Juan José Díaz, about the socioeconomic impact of the University of La Laguna, it was already made clear that the holding of scientific conferences also contributed to that social return on the money invested in the University that Juanjo quantified economically. Being part of the organization of the Conference has also brought us closer to this reality. In addition, we have witnessed how the work of the central services of the University facilitates the organization of events like this and makes us less dependent on private financing or public resources that may be more necessary in other areas. And all of this was done with a number of components: infrastructure, protocol, press, sound, parks and gardens, maintenance, the Faculty’s administration and services staff; components that are often not visible but which add significant value to the realization of these Conferences. We have had to face a number of problems and unforeseen events, but also the feeling that these are minimized when each agent does their job well.

One also realizes the importance of coordination between the Organizing Committee and the Scientific Committee in the planning and development of the Conference. It was positive for me to coincide with Miguel Ángel as president of the Scientific Committee, with whom I maintained a constant collaboration from the beginning to the end. And of course, I would like to highlight the collaboration of the University of La Laguna with our neighbouring University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in common academic and scientific objectives such as the realization of this congress (I refer to their efficient participation in the Organizing Committee and in the Scientific Committee and the willingness of many other colleagues from the ULPGC to lend a hand in whatever was needed).

Finally, I would like to express my special thanks to the members of the Organising Committee: Aranza Hernández, Bea González, Cristina Hernández, David Pérez, Francisco Villar, Imanol Nieto, Javier García, Juanjo Díaz, Lidia García and Pili Pinilla, a team that worked with admirable responsibility and commitment for months, with the aim of ensuring that attendees could enjoy a congress at the level expected. No one was left out, nor was anyone missing. If, today, I had to reconfigure the Organising Committee, I would propose the same people. During the congress, however, we were grateful for the professional work of the ULL sound technician Antonio Hernández – who joined as another member of the Organising Committee – and the members of Acto Serveis, Gemma Mena, Luna Grinschpun and Oriol Setó, who helped and accompanied us throughout the process.

The organizers were left with a strange feeling of despair when they saw everyone leaving. But on the one hand, there was also a special mark left by the congressmen attending and debating those three intense days in the same classrooms that are so familiar to us. And on the other, we looked to the future with enthusiasm knowing that the lessons learned from these conferences will be added to the previous ones to form part of the birth of the next conferences in Madrid. Manu, we remain at your disposal. See you in Madrid!