The event, co-organised by Anglia Ruskin University’s Global Sustainability Institute, will feature keynote talks from Dame Professor Sandra Dawson, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge; Dame Carol Brayne, Professor of Public Health Medicine at the University of Cambridge; and Lord Nigel Crisp, former Chief Executive of NHS England and now co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health.
There are a number of factors limiting access to affordable healthcare including rising healthcare costs, a growing global population, and rising inequity.
Because of these issues, the healthcare sector is beginning to focus more on earlier intervention to manage health and wellbeing over the long term. This changes the emphasis from treating illnesses to changing behaviour by providing information, education and developing innovative and cost-effective products.
Through a series of talks and workshops, participants will examine ideas and best practice from across the world and discuss the changes necessary to ensure a healthy future for all.
Professor Aled Jones, Director of Anglia Ruskin University’s Global Sustainability Institute, said: “We will be discussing some of the biggest challenges facing us in society today, and the aim is to identify the key priorities for researchers and policymakers over the next five to ten years.
“We have an increasing population as well as an increasingly elderly population. If you look at the NHS here in the UK, continuing to focus primarily on treating diseases and illnesses is going to be difficult. A sustainable future might be found by focusing more on education and lifestyle choices.
“By examining the lessons learned from both developing and developed countries, we hope to identify ways of changing behaviour so that there is a successful shift from managing and treating diseases to managing health and wellbeing in a long-term and sustainable way.”
In addition to Anglia Ruskin University, the Sustainable Health Symposium 2017 organisers include the University of Cambridge’s Cambridge-Africa Programme, Addenbrooke’s Abroad, the Sustainable Development Unit, Commons Health, Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research, the Centre for Global Equality, Hughes Hall, and Public Health at Cambridge.
The event, which is free to attend, is sponsored by Cambridge Institute of Public Health, Cambridge Medical Robotics, Cambridge Philosophical Society, The Coalition for Sustainable Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, MiraGlo Foundation, Sustainable Health Solutions, and Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research.
*******
For more press information please contact:
Jon Green on t: 01245 68 4717, e: jon.green@anglia.ac.uk
Jamie Forsyth on t: 01245 68 4716, e: jamie.forsyth@anglia.ac.uk
________________________________________________