2050:A Healthy Future? Medsin Global Health Conference, 27th-28th March 2010, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Welcome...
to the Medsin Global Health Conference 2010, set in
the buzzing city of Newcastle, officially the best place in the UK to be a student, pipping Aberystwythe to the post*, sorry chaps. On behalf of the enFre Medsin commiHee here in Newcastle, may we congratulate you on choosing two days of intense, acFon‐packed fun instead of a weekend catching up with the Cash In The AMc and Hollyoaks omnibuses. What you would gain in anFque knowledge and peHy drama entertainment cannot make up for the whirlwind of facts and friendships you will undoubtedly acquire in the next forty‐eight hours. You may well have met up with your accommodaFon buddy and squeezed yourself in with the others sharing the house for the night, and we hope you’ve seHled well. The conference is enFtled: 2050 A Healthy Future? This is no mere intelligent but useless rhetorical quesFon, it is a complex conundrum which we aim to unravel over the course of the weekend. So picture the world in 2050. Aside from the obvious things like intergalacFc travel, hover boots and GilleHe
razors with twenty seven blades, how will the health of our populaFon have changed? We know there’s an obesity epidemic, We know we face an ageing populaFon,and we know that climate change is occurring and acceleraFng. But exactly how this will impact upon health in communiFes and naFons is harder to determine. Furthermore, it all depends on our intervenFons on a personal and global level. You may think that this would suffice for a conference of our stature. But we don’t aim to merely suffice. In between plenaries you will pop off to the workshop to enjoy their focus on smaller, more digesFble issues in a directly engaging way, with anything from fierce debates to immediate, pracFcal acFon.
The quesFon of whether our future can be a healthy one is fiercely contested. We hope by the end of GHC 2010 you will feel empowered to add your voice to the debate! Thanks for coming! Newcastle Medsin * Oh yes it’s true (according to hHp:// www.accommodaFonforstudents.com/)
Keynote Speech
“Turning the world upside down”
Lord Nigel Crisp is an independent crossbench member of the House of Lords and works mainly on international development and global health. His new book “Turning the world upside down – the search for global health in the 21st Century” was published at the end of January 2010. It takes further the ideas about mutual learning between rich and poor countries that he developed in his 2007 report for the Prime Minister – “Global Health Partnerships”: the UK contribution to health in developing countries – and shows how this will shape healthcare in the future. He co-chaired an international Task Force on increasing the education and training of health workers globally, which advocated practical ways to increase massively the training of health workers in developing countries, in May 2008. He was both Chief Executive of the NHS between 2000 and 2006 and Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and led major reforms in the health system. He is a member of the Health Worker Migratory Advisory Council, a Champion Advocate for the Global Health Workforce Alliance and an Advisory Board Member of the African Centre for Health and Social Development.
Medsin! le t s a c w e N m Welcome fro
So what can you look forward to this weekend? And more importantly, when is lunch?
saturday 0800 0900 0910 0940 1110 1140 1240 1340 1510 1540 1600 1715
RegistraFon opens IntroducFons to Conference Keynote Plenary 1‐ Climate Change Coffee Workshop 1 Lunch Plenary 2 – Ageing Coffee Campaigns Medsin QuesFon Time Finish
1900 1930 2100 2300
Social @ WHQ Buffet Dinner served Entertainment Club night opens clocks go forward!!
sunday 0930 1100 1130 1230 1330 1345 1445 1515 1645
Plenary 3‐ Resources Coffee Workshop 2 Lunch Campaigns Workshop 3 Coffee Plenary 4‐ AcFon FINISH
The future ain't what it used to be-Discuss.
Workshops will be held in the 3rd and 4th floors of the Leech building, and in the Ridley building. There will be a list of workshops at the porters lodge, and please ask anyone in a white t-shirt if you are lost!
Whats on?
You are here..? Lost? Please ask anyone in a conference t-shirt for help!
To the Leech building for workshops
Lunch lunch lunch! from tasty, local and ethical Dene’s deli! Remember to recycle!
To the Ridley building for worshops. 300m on your left
Š
computer cluster Common Room for lunch and coffee! porters
David Shaw Lecture Theatre
Stairs to the David Shaw lecture theatre
cafe Lecture theatres D-F
Lecture theatre C
My Conference.... Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. Wayne Dyer
My Workshops workshop1
room
workshop2
room
workshop3
room
Notes
Accomodation contacts The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. Albert Einstein
CrossWordWorld!
1 3
2 4
Across 5 1. AbbreviaFon of 1d, 18a (3) 6 6. A country within South 7 Africa, with the lowest 8 9 elevaFon in the world (7) 10 8. The country with the 2nd most army personnel aoer 5d 11 12 (5) 13 10. Country with highest rate 14 of deforestaFon (6) 15 16 17 11. Country with the second 18 19 highest Gross DomesFc 20 21 Product, aoer 1a. (5) 13. Country with highest gross 22 NaFonal Product per capita, 23 and was the founding member of the European 24 Union and the 1d, 22a. Next door to Belgium. (9) 14. Used to be called Persia Down (4) 1. Came together, to share a common view (6) 15. Monarchy (7) With 1d: 2. African country, on west coast, with highest child mortality in Country where the average the world. Speak Portuguese. (6) age of the populaFon is 40, 3. Country with highest percentage of land covered in forest. (6) with a current life expectancy 4. Country with highest rate of inflaFon. (8) at birth of 79. (6,7) 5. Most highly populated country in the world and highest carbon 18. With 1d, highest carbon emissions (5) emissions from consumpFon 6. Country where the highest ever temperature was recorded. Flag of energy (6,6) is just green with no paHern or other colours on it. Forth largest 19. The local name for this African country, highest Human Development Index in Africa (5) country, near 1d, 15a (4) 7. Country that spends the most on computer games, and has the 22. A large body of people, a longest coastline in the world (6) country or territory (7). With 9. Highest Human Development Index in the world. Formally 1d: Peace keepers. Leader is adverFsed by Kerry Katona (7) Ban Ki‐moon (6, 7) 12. The least corrupt country in the world, made up of 2 islands in 23. Country with lowest infant the Pacific Ocean (3,7) mortality and government run 16. Country with most Spanish speakers, borders 1a. (6) health system (4) 17. Country with most tourists visiFng each year, largest country in 24. Country that held the European Union (6) 2009 Climate Change summit 20. Most corrupt country in the world, used to be called Burma (7) in December (7) 21. A small country with highest life expectancy, and in the Pyrenees (7)
Plenary1:Climate We’re pumping more Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by the second, more ice is careening into the sea at either pole, more methane is bubbling up from ancient chasms, and more cute penguins face extinction. Our climate is changing and changing fast, which inevitably has an effect on biosystems equipped to deal with the conditions they initially grew into. This will undoubtedly affect the physical and (especially in the case of witnessing the plight of penguins) mental health of populations across the globe. The economic South will inevitably be hit worst, with a constantly increasing rate of drought and extreme weather. This plenary is an excellent opportunity to learn the finer details of this important global issue. On a more local level, we will discuss the effect that running the NHS is potentially having on climate change. The Carbon Footprint of the NHS and other large organisations can be substantially reduced, and we have the exciting opportunity to learn how from the figurehead of the project. 1.3 million people work for the NHS, the third largest employer in the world after the Indian Railway and Chinese Army. Chances are you’ll be working for one of these three and hence an opportunity to learn how to make your future work environment as green as possible is not one to be missed.
Dr David Pencheon is director of the NHS Sustainable Development Unit. He has special interest in sustainable development and climate change and is leading the mission to improve policy and action in these areas -including by cutting CO2 emissions- on a local and national level. After the realisation that the NHS risked being more ‘part of the problem than part of the solution’ with regards climate change, we may be able to learn from these efforts how global healthcare systems can follow the example of the UK.
Mustafa Abbas is currently a third year medical student at UCL, where he also obtained an iBSc in International Health. He has a long history of involvement with Medsin at both branch and national level. He was Branch President of Medsin-UCL, and is currently the Vice- President for Branches for MedsinUK. He is also outgoing director of Healthy Planet, a position he has held for two years. He was recently a contributing author to the UCL-Lancet Commission on Managing the Health Effects of Climate Change.
Due to unforseen circumstances we had some trouble tieing down our third plenary speaker! Do not worry, the one we do get (who you will have the pleasure of meeting...) will no doubt be incredible. Hold on in there, its like christmas all over again.
Plenary2:Ageing We’re all getting older. Not just individually, which is fairly obvious, but also as a whole population. Incredible advances in medicine are pushing life expectancy so high that The Queen is getting repetitive strain disorder, and the UN predicts 9.1 Billion people squashed onto Earth by 2050, a 38% leap. It’s a little known fact that on current trajectories we gain a year of life for every five, which, despite making your procrastinating not seem so bad, is potentially a strain on our ability to achieve health equality for all. An ageing population could increase pressure on health services across the globe. If so, how will they cope? Thinking more locally, since the NHS can never offer all aspects of care to the elderly, who will? The ageing population also directly forces us to address the way in which we deliver care. Do we care more about the potentially curable conditions than the chronic conditions associated with geriatric healthcare? An ageing population is normally considered a problem of the rich world. However, by 2050, it is likely that 80% of the world’s over 65s will live in the economic South. Will this cause further, unneeded economic burden, or greater difficulty in supporting older people? There are many presumptions regarding what will happen to us in an ageing population, and often these are outdated, some would even say ageist. So be prepared to drop your preconceptions at the door and learn what life will really be like for the zimmer-wielding silver foxes of the future.
Prof Thomas Kirkwood is currently the Director for the Institute for Ageing and Health at Newcastle University. His research interests are in the evolution and genetics of ageing and mechanisms of cellular ageing, mathematical biology and biological standardisation. He has a BA in Mathematics from Cambridge University, a MSc in Applied Statistics from Oxford University and a PhD in Biology form Cambridge University. He has had various research positions across the country, including Professor of Biological Gerontology at the University of Manchester and Head of the Laboratory of Mathematical Biology at the MRC Institute for Medical Research in London.
Nigel Unwin is Professor of Epidemiology and leads the Advancing Research in Chronic Disease Epidemiology Programme (ARCHEPI), in the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University. His research interests are in the epidemiology and prevention of diabetes and related chronic disease, both within the UK and in low and middle-income countries, especially Africa. He regularly contributes to the work of the diabetes group at WHO Geneva, and to the work of the International Diabetes Federation.
Tessa Pollard is currently a senior lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Durham University, a lecturer in the Health and Human Sciences department and a Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute. Her main research interest is in working to explain why some groups of people, especially those of South Asian origin living in the UK, have very high rates of metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. She approaches this work from two different perspectives, improving
understanding
of
current
lifestyle
behaviours, and an evolutionary perspective.
and
health
Plenary3:Resources
Everyone wants their share of the pie. Now it’s been wrestled over so much it looks like a personal attack on Mr Kipling. Problems are inevitably arising in our expanding population with limited resources, which are often kept under lock and key for the sake of profit. So what’s being done to tackle this problem head on? Thanks to the incredible efforts of campaign groups including our own Stop AIDS society, Unitaid (the international drugs purchasing facility) voted for an HIV drug patent pool last September, potentially allowing millions in the economic South to access generic drugs at affordable prices. This means that that medications can be developed for HIV sufferers and important combined medicines can be created. Despite still being a step away from involving all drugs companies in the pool, this exemplifies positive changing attitudes of the West towards resource distribution. This plenary will explore whether this positive trend will continue to 2050, or whether we will face higher charges from pharmaceutical companies stashing their pieces of pastry. Within Britain, resource distribution is a shifting landscape. Last year saw a redraft of healthcare policy which withheld some aspects of healthcare to asylum seekers who
have
had
their
claims
rejected
by
the
government. This controversial policy was criticized by the healthcare community as potentially illegal and inhumane, and is an indicator of the extent to which our country can disable access to resources to groups of society. Speakers will discuss our local means of dispersing wealth, health and inequality, and how this may change in the future for different groups
of
society,
especially
populations of immigrants.
our
vulnerable
Johanna Hanefeld is a doctoral researcher in the Health Policy Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, focusing on policy processes of access to treatment for HIV/AIDS and TB in sub-Saharan Africa. Before coming to the School she worked for seven years on health and health systems in low-income countries most recently for Amnesty International and the Panos Global AIDS Programme.
Dr Edwin Borman is a Consultant Anaesthetist based in Warwickshire. He is a previous Chairman of the BMA International Committee and Chair of the GMC’s committee on Diversity and Equality and is currently on the BMA Council. He has special interest in asylum seeker and refugee health and health inequalities among many other prominent global health issues. He has contributed to articles on a range of topics from institutional racism within the NHS to the re-employment of qualified medical professional refugees in Britain, and the potential benefits to the
Prof Danny Dorling is professor of Human Geography at Sheffield University., where he leads the Social and Spatial inequalities department. masterminds
behind
the
He also is one of the website: www.worldmapper.org
His current interests involve trying to understand and map the changing social, political and medical geographies of Britain and further afield, concentrating on social and spatial inequalities to life chances and how these may be narrowed.
Plenary4:Action By now you may be thinking that 2050 is all doom and gloom, a post-apocalyptic nightmare as depressing and unnessesary to know about as The Day After Tomorrow. But what a film with
extremely
dodgy
scientific
assertions
One must care about a world one will not see. Bertrand Russell It is said that the present is pregnant with the future. Voltaire
won’t tell you is that there is the potential for a healthy future. In this plenary, speakers will discuss how we, individually, nationally and globally, can organize such a healthy future. The tragedy of the Haitian earthquake fortifies a central issue of how we should prepare for the inevitable increase in natural disasters, both at home and in the transportation of aid to
other
countries.
We
have
previously
discussed the economic burden and actions of pharmaceutical companies as being barriers to attaining global health in 2050, and we shall discuss how this will have to change for the future. If we progress successfully towards achieving greater health equality, who should govern our global health policy and why? Furthermore, who should pay for the sustenance of global health and through what means? All these issues and more shall be discussed with a view to progressing towards a healthy future. So ignore all of Hollywood’s impending doomsday special effects and predictable romance, and listen to how a very real problem can be tackled head-on.
Dr Andrew Lee qualified in medicine from the University of Edinburgh. Following paediatric and tropical medicine training, he worked in primary health care and tuberculosis control programmes in Afghanistan. He undertook an MSc in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His thesis examined beneficiary perspectives of humanitarian aid. He worked in general practice, genito-urinary medicine and geriatric medicine before joining Sheffield University’s School of Health and Related Research. He currently lectures on international health needs assessment, disaster planning and impact evaluation, and is the lead developer of the health protection module for the Public Health MSc.
Sir Michael Rawlins has been chairman of NICE since its formation. He is also Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1973 to 2006 .Concurrently he was also consultant physician
and
consultant
clinical
pharmacologist
to
the
Newcastle
Hospitals NHS Trust. He was vice-chairman and chairman
of the
Committee on Safety of Medicines; and chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
Benny Dembitzer is an economist who has spent almost 40 years working on grassroot development projects across Africa, in Pakistan and Indonesia. Programme,
He has worked for the United Nations Development the
World
Bank
and
various
NGOs,
and
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. then Benny has worked as a development consultant.
the Since
He has
recently published a book entitled “The attack on world poverty”. His interests include the food crisis in the global south, the influence of international aid, and the importance of fair trade.
Social So we’re treating you to an unbelievable quantity of intellectually stimulating activity during the day, challenging you at every step of the way and educating you in a number of different disciplines. You’re probably thinking that given this input, you’ll be expected to be in bed before eight with a hot water bottle, a sensibly sized mug of horlicks and an alarm set for six (you don’t want to be late for tomorrow). Right? Wrong sister, this conference is as much about communication, socialising and sourcing out like minded individuals as it is about education, and we’ve got just the itinerary to make this happen. Saturday will be a different ball game. This is your chance to party with new found friends and old amigos. There’ll be something for everyone, and it all kicks off at the famous World Headquarters nightclub. Doors open at 7pm, food will be served at 7.30pm- a selection of hot and cold vegan, vegetarian and carnivorous culinary delights, all ethically sourced, will be provided, with plenty of time to rest and digest. Then, curries safely far down, we will have a ceilidh at 9pm. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a ceilidh veteran to attend, all the dances will be called and they all come with a maximum enjoyment guarantee (however no guarantees against minor bruising can be provided unfortunately). If this isn’t your scene we’ll have the World Headquarters resident DJs spinning soul, funk, Motown and plenty more to get you pulling incredible shapes on the dancefloor through till 4am. Phew, thats a lot of information, but I have one more factlet. Considering we’re talking forty years into the future during the day, Saturday night is futuristic disco themed. We want to see the best robot costumes since Dr Who decided that daleks couldn’t be represented by upturned bins anymore. We’ll have foil on the door if you need, but we’d love it if you got creative and dazzled us with your own cyber couture. We hope this is enough to keep you entertained over the weekend. If you’re ever looking for something to do though, just ask the committee. We aim to entertain. Need a Taxi? These are cheap and cheerful0191 262 6666 0191 287 7777 otherwise monument metro is nearby