Nearly 300 people gathered at St. Olav’s Hospital in Trondheim for NTNU’s Global Health Day on October 24 – a majority were students.
Participants were welcomed by Elisabeth Darj, Professor in Global Health and Director of the Norwegian Research School in Global Health, Björn Gustafsson, Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU and Stig Slørdahl, former Dean and current CHO Mid-Norway Health Authority.
Darj quickly engaged the audience with 3 short videos. The first underlines the fact that Global Health Day NTNU coincides with United Nations Day.
- Sustainable Development Goals - 2015-2030; supported by 189 countries
- Planetary Health by Professor Howard Frumkin, University of Washington
- Dr Denis Mukwege, Noble Peace Prize winner 2018
One world, one health
“One world, one health captures a single integrated global priority, which should encourage the identification of sustainable health solutions that respect the rights of current and future generations.” Ben Marais et.al.
Gustafsson and Slørdahl challenged the many student participants with the need for new approaches, for considering well-being and the whole human condition. They underlined that it is critical to think about interdisciplinarity, as no one discipline can find the answers needed to solve today’s global challenges.
One world, one health links:
Health and climate
The day’s programme included a diverse, stimulating portfolio of talks by experienced senior researchers, young researchers and students. (link to programme) The morning’s talks were loosely grouped around the increasingly relevant theme, “Health consequences of climate and environmental change”.
From rural Russia to Malawi and Siberia, Nicaragua and then the whole planet and the threat of nuclear war … participants learned about current innovative research and daunting challenges. The talk by Tilman Ruff (one of the founding members of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), 2017 Nobel Peace Prize winner) was particularly disturbing, and motivating.
HIV – a new generation living with the infection
The afternoon’s talks reflected on different aspects of the global situation regarding living with HIV today, from personal experience of a HIV+ nurse in Norway, to a molecular biologist’s experience, to aspects of living with HIV in Africa. While the breakthrough that people on effective HIV treatment can no longer pass on the virus, the growing “survivor” population has its own health concerns.
Read more about “Protecting the Children” – a talk by CIH Professor, Thorkild Tylleskär.
Remember: World AIDS Day, 1 December 2018
Posters
A total of 22 poster abstracts were submitted. Two were selected for presentation during the plenum, where they were enthusiastically and informatively shared. Global Health Day participants were invited to take a “poster walk” and then to vote for the best poster (check the results here – mouse over to see the poster title). “Challenges in day to day midwifery practice; a qualitative study from a regional referral hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania”, by Hanna And Åsil received the most votes!.
Mark your calendars for next year – it will be the 10th Global Health Day celebration at NTNU!
