This week we’re at the World Innovation Summit for Health, where we’re a media partner - the meeting is focussing on conflict, equity and resilience.
In that vein, we’re joined by Christos Christou, international president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to talk about attacks on healthcare staff, and the difficulty and importance of maintaining neutrality in conflict zones.
Ara Darzi, surgeon, executive chair of the conference, and author of the recent NHS review, joins us to talk about antimicrobial resistance, and how diagnostics and a small funding commitment could head off the problem.
And finally, we change our focus to the US, and hear about new research into adverse events during surgery with authors Antoine Duclos and David Bates from Harvard Medical School.
Reading list.
We need to do more to keep antibiotics working
WISH report - Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: How to Keep Antibiotics Working for the Next Century
Safety of inpatient care in surgical settings: cohort study
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32:14
Conflict zones, women’s health research, and reimagining palliative care
In this episode, we speak to the doctor overseeing the WHO’s emergency response for the eastern mediterranean region - including Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Yemen. Richard Brennan joins us to talk about protecting health services, and workers, in the escalating armed conflicts that are affecting the region.
Menaka Paranathala and Emma Rourke, from The BMJ, are on to talk about improving research into women’s health. A new UK project, MESSAGE, aims to give consideration to sex and gender in life science research.
Palliative care is not just for end-of-life, and rethinking how it’s integrated into every speciality is the key to improving care for patients, argue Richard Harding, Anna Peeler, and Oladayo Afolabi from the Cicely Saunders Institute.
Links
WISH report - Protecting Health in Armed Conflict
MESSAGE (Medical Science Sex and Gender Equity) project
BMJ Opinion - Palliative care is an overlooked global health priority
WISH report - Palliative Care
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37:41
Climate leadership - knowledge is power
It’s an often cited statistic that if healthcare was a country, it would be the fifth largest carbon emitter. At The BMJ we want to change that, and move healthcare towards a more sustainable future.
In this week’s episode, we’ll hear about our annual climate edition from two of The BMJ’s editors, Sophie Cook and Juliet Dobson.
We’ll be diving into Cli-Fi and asking how climate fiction can galvanise our collective response to climate change. Our panel includes Howard Frumkin, professor emeritus at University of Washington. Lakshmi Krishnan, internist and Director of Medical Humanities at Georgetown university, and Sarah Grossman, journalist and author of Fire So Wild.
And Finally, Tereza Kasaeva, director of the WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Programme, explains how migration and food insecurity, exacerbated by climate change, are affecting TB - and why, despite effective treatment, there are still over a million deaths from the disease annually.
Our panel's cli-fi book recommendations
A Fire So Wild - Sarah Grossman
The Last Man - Mary W. Shelly
The Broken Earth - NK Jemisin
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Attwood
The Ministry for the Future - Kim Stanley Robinson
Olga Dies Dreaming - Xóchitl González
Land of Milk and Honey - C Pam Zhang
Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Links
The BMJ’s annual climate issue
Cli-Fi—helping us manage a crisis
Writing towards a healthier future amid climate disaster
WISH report - Tuberculosis
Lakshmi’s references
Fundamental Role of Arts and Humanities in Medical Education
Capable of being in uncertainties’: applied medical humanities in undergraduate medical education
The introduction of medical humanities in the undergraduate curriculum of Greek medical schools: challenge and necessity
The medical humanities at United States medical schools
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41:08
Getting science into policy for gun control and NHS reform
How science can be transformed into policy?
One of the seemingly intractable issues when it comes to legislative change in the US is gun control. One reason policy change is so difficult, is the US specific evidence vacuum, but that’s beginning to change.
We're joined by Louis Klarevas, an academic at the University of Colombia and author of the book “Rampage Nation, securing america from gun violence" and Shannon Watts, from Moms Demand Action which is a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.
Even when there is evidence, the trade-offs needed for legislative change can still paralyse policy makers. Citizen assemblies, a form of democratic participation that asks the public for their views, has helped clarify some key healthcare issues, from assisted dying in Jersey, to abortion access in Ireland.
Rebecca McKee from the Institute of Government argues they could be used to fix the NHS, and joins us to explain how.
Reading list
More gun regulation, less firearm harm
Citizens’ assemblies, health, and health policy
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21:34
Nutrition for health and conflicts of interests
Under-nutrition harms health, but so does over-nutrition.
The Bill and Melinda Gate’s foundation has just released their Goalkeepers' report - highlighting the detrimental impact that poor nutrition is having on children’s health. Rasa Izadnegahdar, director of Maternal, Newborn, Child Nutrition & Health at the foundation joins us to explain how they are targeting nutritional interventions.
Also this week, a new investigation in The BMJ has found that the UK government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition - the people who help guide the UK’s nutrition policy - have competing interests with the food industry. We hear from Chris van Tulleken, University College London; Rob Percival, the Soil Association; and Alison Tedstone, chair of the Association for Nutrition.
Reading list:
Goalkeepers Report 2024
UK government’s nutrition advisers are paid by world’s largest food companies, BMJ analysis reveals