OxHA news and highlights
Click here >> for a pdf of this newsletter.
Welcome to the OxHA newsletter
The OxHA 2009 Summit, held in Oxford in April, lived up to expectations, with lively debate on everything from the polypill to creating partnerships with industry. You can see all the coverage on the 3FOUR50 and OxHA websites.
Also in this issue, catch up on progress in the CIH teams worldwide, OxHA’s Big Lottery bid, and the launch of Bupa’s Healthy Work report on turning round the poor health of UK employees.
The Project Spotlight is the Climate Pledge from the Climate and Health Council – we encourage health professionals to sign it, to raise health as an issue at the climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
Summit ’09
More than 90 delegates attended the Oxford Health Alliance Summit Searching for Solutions, held at Trinity College, Oxford in April. Representing a wide range of disciplines and countries, delegates enjoyed a packed programme.
Dr Fiona Adshead, director of chronic disease and health promotion at the World Health Organization, chaired a session on the three risk factors for chronic disease, saying that there was now a real drive for action in chronic disease prevention. (For an interview with Dr Adshead, click here >> ) This theme was reinforced in a subsequent session focusing on two research-into-action projects – OxHA’s Community Interventions for Health and the UnitedHealth Chronic Disease Initiative.
Research into the role of the polypill, as a means to cut heart disease, generated lively debate, with results of trials so far, including the ‘Polycap’ in India, providing significant data. Discussions also centred on NGO work in chronic disease, the role of industry including the business4Life initiative (in which OxHA is involved), trends in spending on chronic diseases, and the new Global Alliance on Chronic Disease research.
Dr Derek Yach (OxHA board member and senior vice president, global health policy, PepsiCo) ended the day with a passionate call for a partnership approach providing a ‘roadmap’ for chronic disease prevention allowing ‘progress in realms where you agree to agree, even if you disagree in other areas’.
- Presentations from the summit here >>
- An Alliance Alert describing the Summit here >>
- Video news from the Summit here >>
- A short Summit highlight video here >>
Community Interventions for Health
Meeting of CIH teams
- Members of the CIH pilots used the opportunity of the 2009 OxHA Summit to share preliminary data collected from each site and discuss how this can be used in planning interventions. Two members from each site attended with the China team participating by teleconference. It was an opportunity, too, for the existing teams to agree a ‘road map’ for new sites interested in similar work.
- A highlights video of the CIH meetings is on 3FOUR50 here >>
Baseline data collection
- Preliminary baseline data was presented at the OxHA summit – the presentation is available here >>. Videos of the presentation and interviews are available on the CIH website here >>
- China and India have nearly completed baseline data collection and data entry and are now planning intervention activities. The Sree Chita Tribunal Institute and the Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, India, held a joint seminar marking the observance of World No Tobacco Day on 31 May 2009.
World Congress on Public Health
- Dr Sara Karrar presented on CIH in a session of the 12th World Congress on Public Health in Istanbul, Turkey. Her presentation was well received, and some delegates expressed interest in collaborating on CIH projects in the future. The five-day conference attracted a wide range of public health professionals, with presentations by Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO, the Turkish Minister of Health, and Professor Pekka Puska, President of the World Heart Federation. You can read Sara’s blog from the Congress here >> or read more about the meeting here >>
3FOUR50
The end of May broadcast marked the last of the current series of American Cancer Society sponsored video news. Stories covered recently include:
- Using new technologies – such as websites – in health promotion: click here >>
- OxHA 2009 Summit news: click here >>
OxHA website
In addition to the Alliance Alerts, 17 of which were published in April and May (click here >>), the main additions to the oxha.org site have been to the Summit section (including pdfs of most of the presentations from the Summit).
Industry
business4Life
- OxHA’s Christine Hancock chaired a meeting of business4Life members with NGOs in April, exploring how they might work together to help deliver the UK government’s Change4Life (C4L) campaign objectives. All welcomed the C4L approach to promoting healthy eating and physical activity, and acknowledged the role the private sector had to play.
- There was broad agreement that in order to establish trust, industry and the NGOs needed to engage in an open dialogue with each other. It was agreed that C4L could help stimulate this dialogue, as all parties are committed to working towards a sustainable solution and a lasting legacy.
Workplace
Big Lottery
- OxHA’s bid to the UK’s Big Lottery research fund – a workplace health promotion project called Workplace, Healthplace – was submitted in May. OxHA staff worked hard to deliver the submission on time, and we are delighted that Dame Carol Black is an independent referee of the project. It is now up to the Big Lottery panel to judge its merits against the many submissions competing for funds. It is a joint bid (headed by OxHA) with Newcastle University, Uscreates and The Work Foundation.
Bupa
- How the health of British workers is set to change over the next 20 years is highlighted in Healthy Work, the first of two reports from Bupa, produced in partnership with The Work Foundation, Rand Europe and OxHA. With the UK government encouraging British businesses to be more concerned with the health of their employees, this timely report brings together more than 200 pieces of research. It follows on from a 2008 review by Dame Carol Black, which found that ill-health in the working-age population is already costing Britain more than £100 billion a year. For more information, click here >> .
PruHealth
- Christine Hancock gave a presentation on chronic disease to the annual meeting of PruHealth and its top financial brokers. PruHealth is a joint venture between Prudential and Discovery, the leading South African health insurance company, which provides health insurance with incentives for healthy behaviour. PruHealth presented the results of its second biannual survey of the UK population, showing that many more say their lifestyles are unhealthy. Many delegates at the PruHealth meeting said that only with employers actively engaged in company schemes was there an increase in healthy behaviour amongst employees.
News from Sydney: OxHA/ Menzies Centre for Health Policy joint seminar
"Our [Australia’s] journey to being the ‘healthiest country by 2020’" was the theme for a joint seminar in April between OxHA's Asia-Pacific Centre and Australia’s Menzies Centre for Health Policy. The seminar brought together leaders and commissioners for the three current major health policies being developed in Australia. Presentations on these three policies were set in a global context by the WHO report Closing the Gap in a Generation, which looks at social determinants of health.
- Australia: the healthiest country by 2020 prepared by the National Preventative Health Taskforce (NTPF): click here >>
- The National Health and Hospital Reform Commission’s interim report A Healthier Future for all Australians: click here >>
- Towards a National Primary Health Care Strategy – a discussion paper from the Australian Government): click here >>
The two keynote speakers were Professor Mike Daube, Deputy Chair of the Preventative Health Taskforce and President of the Public Health Association of Australia, and Fran Baum, a commissioner on the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, both champions of promoting the social determinants of health and reducing inequalities.
Other meetings and conferences
‘Health and Development: Held Back by Non-Communicable Diseases’
- A moderated panel discussion highlighting the ‘global epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that threatens to overwhelm healthcare systems worldwide’ was held at the 2009 World Health Assembly, Geneva, in May.
- The discussion was organised by the International Diabetes Federation, International Union Against Cancer and World Heart Federation, representing 730 member organisations in more than 170 countries. Rachel Nugent (head of the economics work for OxHA) disseminated findings from her research on donor funding for chronic diseases that she first presented at the OxHA Summit this year.
- There was an implicit plea from those at the discussion for leadership to develop an agreed action plan – directing the attention of all stakeholders to shaping a united fight against the rising tide of NCDs. What was needed, said representatives, are real-world solutions including low-cost interventions, which can save lives in low-income countries.
Winning Combinations launch
- OxHA attended the launch in April of a new report, Winning Combinations: Towards New Models of Preventative Personal and Public Health Care, highlighting the benefits of combining the polypill with healthy lifestyles. Launched at the House of Commons, the speakers were Dr David Taylor (Professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of London) and Professor Sir Nicholas Wald (Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine) – both of whom had attended the OxHA Summit earlier in the month, where polypill research was also discussed. The lively debate at the launch covered such issues as whether the polypill would medicalise too many people, and how important it was to have a single pill.
Global Corporate Challenge – Get the World Moving
From 21 May to 21 September, staff at the Oxford Health Alliance are taking part in the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC). Participants of the GCC record their daily walking activity levels from a pedometer, with every step moving them further along a virtual walk around the world, with a daily target of 10,000 steps. For more information go to the GCC website here >> , and there is also an interview with the European director of the GCC, Tom Sermon, on 3FOUR50 here >>
Global headlines – the OxHA Alliance Alerts
17 Alliance Alerts have published during April and May. There are also regular video news updates on chronic disease prevention on the 3FOUR50 website – click here >> ).
Highlights of recent Alerts include:
- The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has ruled very strongly against a recent ad campaign by Coca-Cola, the messages in which were ‘totally unacceptable, creating an impression which is likely to mislead that Coca-Cola cannot contribute to weight gain, obesity and tooth decay.’ Coca-Cola has been required to publish ads clarifying the truth in national papers and on its website, and has admitted that it ‘oversimplified’ its messages.
- To coincide with the World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), International Union Against Cancer (UICC) and World Heart Federation (WHF) issued a joint statement calling for the epidemic of chronic diseases to be urgently addressed.
If you would like to comment on an Alert, or if you identify a story that could be incorporated on our site as an Alliance Alert, please email us (click here >>).
Project spotlight: Climate Pledge – call for signatures
The Climate and Health Council in the UK is calling on health professionals worldwide to sign their pledge on tackling climate change and protecting health. So far, health professionals from more than 100 countries have signed. The pledge is part of a global campaign leading up to the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. It highlights the direct links between tackling climate change and improving public health and reducing health inequalities.
The general public is now being asked to invite all health professionals they know to sign the pledge and this is being extended to patient groups and other stakeholder organisations worldwide. The aim by November 2009 is to have hundreds of thousands of health professionals signed up – so far, a third of all sign-ups from outside the UK are from Australia, with areas such as the USA, China and most of Europe poorly engaged.
OxHA encourages you to sign the pledge online here >>
Upcoming dates
OxHA members are encouraged to email us >> with any important upcoming events that they would like highlighted here and on OxHA’s online calendar (click here >>).
June
2: Promoting Behaviour Change: Effective Behavioural Interventions, conference of the Association for the Study of Obesity, Leeds
5–7: 7th International Conference on Diet and Activity Methods (ICDAM7), Washington, DC
5–8: Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, Second GIS in Public Health Conference, Providence, Rhode Island
5–9: Annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association 2009, New Orleans, Lousiana
9–11: International Society for Equity in Health conference 2009, Crete, Greece
12–16: 19th European meeting on hypertension, Milan, Italy
12–16: InterAmerican Congress of Cardiology 2009, Fajardo, Puerto Rico
14–18: International Symposium on Atherosclerosis 2009, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
17–20: Annual meeting of the International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Lisbon, Portugal
18–21: Tenth International Lung Cancer Congress, Kohala Coast, Hawaii
24–26: Obesity and Its Management training meeting (Association for the Study of Obesity), Liverpool
29 June–2 July: School Nutrition Association Annual National Conference, Las Vegas, NV
July
1–3: New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes, Dunedin, NZ
7: Asalha Puja Day
10–12: ISHIB 2009 - Eliminating disparities in hypertension, metabolic syndrome, kidney failure, and cardiovascular disease: basic science, clinical practice, and community initiatives, Chicago, Illinois
11–15: The Society for Nutrition Education 2009 Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA
18–20: First Asia Pacific conference on health promotion and education, Chiba-city, Japan
Contacting OxHA
The OxHA secretariat is located in central London.
1st Floor, 28 Margaret Street
London
W1W 8RZ
United Kingdom
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7637 4330
Fax: + 44 (0)20 7637 4336
Email: [email]