Guest Blog Post By: Sumayyah Khalid
This year’s Students for Global Health Annual Conference took place from 25th-26th March at Manchester Royal Infirmary’s Undergraduate Centre. The conference aimed to provide opportunities for students with an interest in global health to network with one another, and with professionals in the global health field. These professionals delivered keynote presentations on global health developments, informed by their expertise.
- Amy Randles: ‘Women’s Health Equity and Why It Matters’
- Jake Atkinson: ‘Digital Health and Rights’
- Dr Lucy McKay: ‘Rare Disease: A local and global health priority’
- Dafni Manthiou: Elective Workshop and How We Can Improve Our Curriculums
- Chloe Sowerby: International Team and IFMSA Opportunities
- Dr Alice McGushin: ‘Climate Change and Health: From evidence to action’
- Dr Shuo Zhang: ‘Working towards equitable and sustainable mental health services’
- Faris Khan: ‘Patients not Passports’ on behalf of Patients not Passports who were sadly unable to attend
- Research Presentations by Conference Attendees: Jessica Walker, Hanna Pietrzycki, Alice Wood, Aya Hammad, Alfadhea Irbah, and Ellen Peters
- Odein Princewill: ‘Identifying, Understanding and Deconstructing Colonial Narratives within Medicine and Health’
Two key themes which ran through the conference talks were equity and sustainability in global health.
Equity
Amy began her talk by outlining the difference between equity and equality. While equality often involves treating everyone exactly the same regardless of their differences, equity recognises these differences and allocates resources accordingly. This proportional allocation facilitates equal opportunities and outcomes. People who menstruate require access to period products and potentially require relevant adjustments such as menstrual leave in order to fully participate in society. Additionally, women’s reproductive autonomy can be facilitated through education and access to sexual and reproductive health services if/when required, included but not limited to contraception and abortion services.
Dr Lucy spoke about how patients with rare diseases are disadvantaged from the onset, since there is less information about these diseases. Consequently, there are fewer specialists, and services are poorly designed to accommodate those with rare conditions. Equity in rare disease management and treatment, alongside education on rare diseases, is therefore necessary to optimise physical and psychological health outcomes in these patient groups, shorten diagnostic journeys, and provide effective support to all those affected by rare disease.
Dafni discussed how we should evaluate both our elective choices and curriculums to ensure that we are getting experiences and education that allow us to provide informed support and/or care. During these discussions, we were encouraged to think critically and intersectionally to ensure we are getting a rounded education and meaningful experiences that will inform our work on global health.
Faris’s talk on behalf of Patients not Passports highlighted the extent to which the hostile environment acts as a barrier to health equity between UK residents and asylum seekers. Asylum seekers are typically charged for NHS care at more than the actual cost.This treatment feeds hostile narratives about migration and migrants, and deters people from seeking the help they need. Health equity is necessary for asylum seekers to have a fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible.
Odein illustrated how an equitable approach is needed to decolonise medicine and health, given the present racial, ethnic, and geographical imbalances in the field. For instance, the UK’s travel restriction red list did not include European countries which had detected the Omicron COVID-19 variant within their population. South Africa, however, was placed on this list – despite having taken responsive measures ahead of the UK and European countries. Odein also highlighted the importance of recognising the impacts that historical scientific developments had on colonised nations, the harm done to specific marginalised communities, and the vital contributions to modern medical knowledges made by members of marginalised communities.
Sustainability
Sustainability in global health was most evidently captured in Dr Alice and Dr Shuo’s talks. Both talks highlighted the impact of climate change on global health, the former focusing more on the physical and environmental impacts, and the latter illuminating the toll on mental health. Our global reliance on fossil fuels is exacerbating the health impacts of concurrent crises, such as the cost-of-living crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, through the environmental damage that is being caused. This lack of physical safety has repercussions for physical and mental health, particularly in minoritised and indigenous communities. It can also impact security in terms of food, shelter, and water supply.
Amy’s emphasis on the importance of women’s reproductive autonomy was also central to sustainable development, helping to ensure that children are brought into a local environment, and a world at large, which can fully support them -and that all women have the information and access to meet their own health needs
Jake’s talk on digital health highlighted the importance of digital health in maintaining social and environmental sustainability. Given that many modern consumer-driven services are digital, which helps to reduce the carbon footprint of organisations, the NHS must align with this method of service provision. Ensuring digital health rights for all protects privacy, and the ability to access accurate health related information and care services.
Final Thoughts
I enjoyed learning about ways in which we can improve equity and sustainability in different areas of healthcare. The wide range of topics covered by the speakers highlighted the interconnected nature of global health issues. I would encourage my fellow healthcare students to consider attending future Students for Global Health Annual Conferences, as an awareness of global health developments will help to build upon and contextualise your university learning, and improve your future practice.
The SfGH Organising team would like to thank everyone who attended and spoke at our conference this year. We hope to see all of our wonderful attendees again at our future events. Thank you to Sumayyah for such an in-depth summary of our weekend!
Students for Global Health 