Event

Paying the price: what are NCDs costing you?

C3 collaborating for health event banner children laughing

The economic burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) on households poses major challenges to achieving Sustainable Development Goal targets of ending poverty in all its manifestations by 2030 as well as realising Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Many governments, particularly in high-income countries, directly finance healthcare costs for their populations, and various mechanisms, particularly public insurance, have been introduced by several countries to reduce household out-of-pocket expenditures. It is unclear what the impact of these mechanisms have been for people living with NCDs.

A 2023 policy research report from the NCD Alliance on out-of-pocket spending for NCDs treatment and care confirms that poor and marginalised groups are hit hardest, with a greater economic burden observed among people living with NCDs in low- and middle-income countries. But what effects do these costs have and what coping mechanisms do people with NCDs use when faced with out of pocket expenditure?

Join C3 Collaborating for Health and The George Institute's Dr. Devaki Nambiar, one of the authors of the report, to learn more.

Register here

Speakers

  • Dr Devaki Nambiar

    Devaki Nambiar is Program Director, Healthier Societies Strategy at the George Institute for Global Health India with appointments at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, the University of New South Wales, Australia, and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, USA.

    devaki_interview

Relationships at the centre – research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in urban social housing

In 2021, building on existing relationships and before applying for a PhD scholarship, I spoke to Aboriginal community members living in social housing at La Perouse to ask their ideas for a research project.

“What would be useful for your community?” I asked. “What would you like to see?”

Event

COP2: Southeast Asia & Western Pacific Regional Hub Dialogue

climate change and mental health

The second COP2 Southeast Asia and Western Pacific Regional Hub Dialogue, coordinated by the Planetary and Global Health Program of the St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine (Philippines) and The George Institute for Global Health (India) will take place on June 6, 2023. 

The emotional and social strength and resilience of communities needed to face climate and environmental change are getting more attention. COP2 (Care of People x Planet) is a growing community of companies, governments, organizations, and institutions focused on strengthening the human operating systems needed to address climate change. We are developing a Roadmap in collaboration with the Race to Resilience that will be delivered at COP 28 for incorporating capacity building for increasing the psychological resilience of communities.

For your thoughts and insight, we will discuss our progress as well as early Roadmap ideas at the session. A moderator will lead you through a series of questions throughout the guided discussion to ensure that we are including your comments on, for example, the overarching goals and structure for the Roadmap, recommendations for best practices for supporting mental health at scale in the community, and metrics for success. 

There will also be time to have more specific conversations highlighting issues at the intersection of climate and mental health that are most important to you. We hope to provide an inclusive space for discussion and co-creation across generations and sectors. 

Are you looking for a platform to share your projects, experiences, and ambitions to understand and respond to the interconnections between climate change and mental health? Come join us!

Date: June 6, 2023 

Time: 06:00 - 07:30 BST/ 10:30 - 12:00 IST / 13:00 - 14:30 PST/ 15:00 - 17:30 AEST/ 17:00 - 18:30 FJT

Speakers and audience are invited to: 

  • To increase awareness of the COP2 initiative in the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific region, and present opportunities to get involved with it moving forward.
  • To present key findings from a first series of dialogues convened in October 2022 to inform and develop policy responses to the intersections of climate change and mental health.
  • To seek feedback on a draft Roadmap that describes how to include capacity building for addressing people’s resilience and the mental and emotional strengths of 4 billion people by 2030.
  • To network, share on-going initiatives, and priorities at the intersection of climate and mental health that are most important to the region.

Speakers: 

  • Gary Belkin, Director, Billion Minds Project | Columbia University, Chair, COP2
  • Renzo Guinto, Co-lead, Southeast Asia, and Western Pacific Regional Hub, COP2, Director, Planetary and Global Health Program, St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine, Philippines
  • Claudia Selin Batz, Co-lead Southeast Asia, and Western Pacific Regional Hub, COP2, Co-lead Southeast Asia, and Western Pacific Regional Hub, COP2, Policy and Advocacy Advisor, Impact and Engagement, The George Institute for Global Health

More information will be circulated to registered participants.

Further information:

  • COP2 is collaborating with the Race to Resilience that is mobilising the world to accelerate progress in adaptation and strengthening of key infrastructures that reach areas where 4 billion people live, by 2030. Learn more by visiting the website here.
  • Contact the Southeast Asia & Western Pacific Regional Hub Leads for more information on what it means to become a member of the Regional Hub.

For any queries pertaining to logistics, please contact hello@cop2.org

Register here

Leads

Further reading

helena legido quigley

Professor Helena Legido-Quigley joins team to lead health systems work with a focus on equity, connection, and sustainability

We are delighted to announce that Professor Helena Legido-Quigley has been appointed Chair in Health Systems Science at The George Institute for Global Health, UK and the School of Public Health, Imperial College London.

Professor Legido-Quigley will establish a programme of work related to health systems science, focused on tackling the challenges of delivering affordable, acceptable, high-quality health services while also strengthening multi-sectoral action to overcome inequity in diverse health system contexts.   

“We have a golden opportunity to reimagine health systems for the future – ones that are equitable, reflecting the diversity of global health needs and voices; ones that are sustainable and resilient to future shocks such as austerity measures and pandemics; and ones that are stronger for their cross-sectoral approach”, said Professor Legido-Quigley.

As Chair, Professor Legido-Quigley will develop and lead health systems science initiatives (including policy, research, economics and implementation science projects) across the Institute’s offices in Australia, China, India and the UK, as well as globally, albeit being primarily based in London, UK. Professor Otavio Berwanger, Executive Director of The George Institute for Global Health, UK said: 

“We are confident that Helena is a fantastic fit for this newly-created Chair in Health Systems Science position. We have no doubt that, in partnership with the UK team and Institute colleagues across all our offices, as well as with colleagues at Imperial College London, she will make significant steps to deliver our shared mission of improving the health of millions of people worldwide, including those locally, in North-West London.”

Professor Legido-Quigley joins us with an Associate Professorship in Health Systems at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. Helena is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House, a member of the Council of the World Economic Forum and is editor-in-chief of Elsevier’s Journal of Migration and Health. She is also a member of Women in Global Health, Spain, a role reflective of her commitment to redistributing power in global health, and of her broader emphasis on championing the next generation of global health researchers through mentorship and teaching. 

“Helena’s appointment will expand the Institute’s work on health systems science. She is at the forefront of global discourse on fostering resilient health systems in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Helena brings together research on health services, health security, and multi-sectoral action on health - all with an underlying focus on equity. Her long-standing partnerships with policy, research, and civil society collaborators in many settings will amplify the quality and impact of our work,” said Professor David Peiris, Acting Chief Scientist at The George Institute for Global Health.

Working in partnership with governments, providers and communities, Professor Legido-Quigley and colleagues will generate evidence and solutions around disruptive health care delivery systems through innovative workforce models, digital technology and financial reform, and will define strategies to reduce fragmentation in health care systems to better coordinate care.

Professor Deborah Ashby, Director of the School of Public Health, Imperial College London, said:

“We are delighted with Professor Legido-Quigley’s appointment. Her outstanding international standing for innovative research combining policy and implementation efforts will enrich the health systems research being carried out across the School of Public Health and College-wide, including with our partner NHS Trusts. We look forward to working closely together.”

For updates on our health systems work, follow us on Twitter. 

Leads

Tens of thousands of lives a year could be saved by new treatment protocol for brain haemorrhage

Media release

The George Institute for Global Health today announced data from the phase III INTERACT3 study demonstrating that a new combination of treatments for stroke due to intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) significantly improves the chances of surviving without major disability.

Clinical Practice Guidelines

What is best practice in clinical trials?

The George Institute for Global Health is working with local and international regulatory bodies to advocate for best practice in clinical trials.

This means:

  • Ensure adequate and timely recruitment of participants to trials to meet sample size requirements, so that studies can answer clinical questions and thus avoid waste. This requires access to large populations of diverse and representative participants, something which Member States and the WHO can support by establishing research registers and clinical trials networks, integrating trials into routine health care settings, and ensuring collaboration across regions.

  • Consolidate ethics practices across regions and develop better mechanisms for rapid approval. Overly complex and obstructive ethics and governance practices limit the ability to rapidly recruit participants to trials and to collaborate across regions, contributing to waste. Member states and the WHO can support by simplifying and streamlining ethics practices.

  • Ensure participation in clinical trials from sites in rural, regional, remote, marginalised and resource-poor settings, and adequate representation of underserved populations among both trial teams and participants. A lack of diversity in trial populations limits the broader applicability of trials and thus their ability to contribute to science and public health in a meaningful way. Non-State actors can support equitable participation and representation by identifying and engaging with collaborative partners, improving the accessibility of clinical trials, and providing appropriate support for participants to optimise retention.

  • Report on diversity in trial populations and inclusivity in recruitment as a requirement of funding bodies and peer-reviewed journals. Member States, the WHO and non-State actors who fund or publish research can support this by making such a reporting requirement mandatory.

  • Ensure that trials focus on research questions and include research methods that reflect the priorities, culture, and needs of the communities they seek to serve. Non-State actors can support this by developing frameworks and mechanisms to involve target groups in research, including community and consumer representation in governance structures. Member States and the WHO should invest in developing core outcome sets relevant to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), to ensure that the right research questions are being addressed, and that clinical trials are not conducted when they are not needed to answer those questions.

  • Provide universal access to affordable and comprehensive training courses in clinical trial design and conduct. As part of the funding and ethics approval processes, Member States and the WHO should require Chief Investigators, trial methodologists and operational teams to demonstrate competency in trial design as part of the submission process, via a Good Clinical Practice qualification or equivalent. Member States and the WHO should work with non-State actors to provide access to appropriate training courses to ensure this.

  • Ensure systematic and transparent registration and reporting of clinical trials. Clinical trial registries should harmonise the data parameters they use for individual participant data availability (see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36337374/). Poor reporting of the results of clinical trials should be addressed in order to facilitate evidence synthesis.

For further information, read our submission to the World Health Organisation. The WHO are currently developing new guidance on best practices for clinical trials, both for national governments and for non-state actors. A draft of the WHO Guidance should be available for consultation with stakeholders by late 2023. You can learn more here.

 

Impacting Policy - 23/05/2023

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