16 December 2022
Ben Simms, CEO, THET
2022 began with The Lancet providing new insights into Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), with the first comprehensive assessment of the global burden of AMR. We’re proud to be working with the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association on the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship programme, which will see work in this area continuing into 2025.
February 2022 marked the one-year anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar. To mark this moment, the Royal Colleges of GPs, Nursing, Physicians and others across the UK lit up their buildings in red, bringing attention to the persecution of health workers and the impact that the coup continues to have on health services. Our work in Myanmar seeks to support health workers by harnessing technologies such as telemedicine, supported by new partnerships executed in novel ways.
Women make up 70% of the global health workforce, but only 25% of leadership roles. Working with Health Education England and the University of Salford on the Nursing Now project, March saw us launching wave two of the Technically Assisted Learning for Nursing and Midwifery Teams (TALENT) group: bringing together groups of young nurses and midwives through a virtual platform to engage and network with more experienced peers.
In April, we launched the #HEAL Campaign Hub to empower individuals who want to add their voice to the call for Universal Health Care. Consisting of a set of tools to help individual health workers campaign for change, we also created a whole network of advocates who wrote to their elected representatives calling for them to support health equity for all.
May saw the 75th World Health Assembly with 194 delegates coming together in Geneva under the theme ‘Health for peace, peace for health’. The COVID-19 pandemic and other health emergencies highlighted the importance of the World Health Organization (WHO) and its role in strengthening health systems. THET is proud to be an NGO in official relations with the WHO.
As part of our Going Global campaign made possible by Health Education England, we launched a webinar series focusing on inclusion in global health, digital engagement, climate, and well-being. Additionally, we produced animations to support NHS staff interested in volunteering.
In July we announced our work with the UK Data Service towards collecting and storing information under a new theme of ‘global health.’ This ongoing project seeks to encourage the collection of data relating to the impact of global health engagement on UK-based volunteers. Contributors are encouraged to join and add to the UK’s most extensive collection of economic, population and social research data.
With the NHS workforce crisis continuing to deepen, our HEE-funded IPSOS study polled over 1000 clinicians on global health activities and training. Three-quarters of respondents expressed interest in overseas training programmes to broaden their skills and experience. The study underlines the role of global engagement opportunities in improving staff retention and increasing job satisfaction but also highlights barriers limiting participation, from limited funding to a lack of free time.
In September, THET was appointed as the Secretariat for All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health (APPG). The APPG on Global Health, co-chaired by Dr Dan Poulter and Baroness Ilora Finlay, drives cross-party dialogue action around the UK as a champion for global health priorities and the drive towards Universal Health Coverage.
We launched our 2022 – 2027 Strategic Plan at a House of Lords reception in October. It clearly defines our renewed commitment to a stronger health workforce and our ambitions towards inclusivity and adapting to mitigate climate change. This was shortly after #THETconf22, our flagship annual conference, where we hosted pre-eminent global speakers and saw two-thirds of our participants coming from low- and middle-income countries.
The death of our founder Sir Eldryd Parry reverberated around the global health community this November, with tributes to his ground-breaking work pouring in from across the world. We encourage you to celebrate his legacy with us in this online condolence book.
Every year on 12 December, the world celebrates International Universal Health Coverage Day (UHC Day), where partners and champions come together in calling for strong, equitable, and resilient health systems and universal health coverage (UHC). THET joined the movement by launching our #UHCDay campaign aiming to platform voices from across the Health Partnerships community.
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