GLOBAL HEALTH POLICY
President
Global Health Policy Centre
Year:
2016 - 2017
Organisation:
King's Think Tank
More Info:
Global Health Policy Team
Left to right: Amally Ding (Editor), Kate Erin (Researcher), Charlotte Beames (Liaison Officer) & Sweta Raghavan (President)
Key Responsibilities
Key Achievements
Research Themes
Health is a function of welfare. In an increasingly shrinking world, the health and well-being of people everywhere is essential for social development, economic growth and global security. However, diseases and poverty respect no boundaries. It, therefore, calls for greater global coordination and cross-border cooperation to tackle the growing healthcare concerns, now more than ever. During my term as President of Global Health Policy Center, my team focused on three major concerns of the day.
Challenging Healthcare Needs Of Refugees
Globally, 65 million people have been displaced from their homes by war, out of which 21 million are refugees. The vast majority of them come from middle-income countries with good baseline health indicators. Unlike refugees in the past who were plagued by infectious disease and malnutrition, they are now mostly burdened by the traumatic experience and chronic diseases (such as diabetes, hypertension, HIV, etc.), neither of which humanitarians are used to working with.
Improving Preventive Medicine
& Emergency Response
Healthcare can be classified as primary care, hospital care and public health. While much progress has been made in the former two areas, public health, especially preventive medicine (eg. health education, vaccination and screening), often takes a backseat. Poor nutrition and sanitation have consumed more lives than deadly pathogens. A heavy price has also been paid for the poor response to and ill-management of the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. The narrative, therefore, needs to shift to improving preventive medicine and building a robust global emergency response system.
UnBrexiting UK's Healthcare System
The United Kingdom faces an uncertain future following the decision to leave the European Union. This marks the undoing of years of collaborative medical research, shared medical practices and regulatory processes. With the health and social care system at its knees, there is a need to open dialogue on issues such as improving the healthcare task force, establishing regulatory bodies for drugs and greater involvement of SMEs specialising in medical technologies and diagnostics.
Seminars & Events
Policy Roundtable: Why is innovation in healthcare so challenging?
Leaving the EU has widespread implications on the UK’s healthcare system. It limits the exchange of knowledge, research and technology with our neighbouring countries. At present, it is extremely hard for U.K. based innovators and researchers, especially SMEs to scale and market their innovations. The roundtable discussed potential solutions to improve health innovation and how the government, NHS and universities can play a greater role in training and supporting entrepreneurs.
Policy Roundtable: Let's Talk: Young People's Mental Health & Emotional Wellbeing
Mental illness is one of the leading causes of health concerns across the globe, nearly 70% of children and young people do not receive timely and adequate medical intervention. The roundtable focused on understanding the reasons that prevented affected individuals from seeking medical help.
Seminar: Future of Bioscience? Post-Brexit Reality
Panellists Professor Sir Robert Lechler, Vice President and Executive Director of King's Health Partners and Dr Virginia Acha, Executive Director Research, Medical and Innovation at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, discussed the bioscience industry and how they perceive the reality of Brexit to impact on their work and future opportunities within this field. This will then be followed by a question and answer session with the audience.
Policy Competition: 7 ways to keep the 7-day NHS
The gradual decline of the NHS' performance has made the dream of a 7-Day NHS less tangible. The Global Health Policy Centre invited ideas from health students to reform the NHS. The 7 best entrants were invited to a policy writing workshop and offered support in publishing their pieces. The best entry of the competition was offered a free trip to the WHO headquarters in Geneva.
