DARE Lecture – Rediscovering public health through countering the global pandemic of chronic disease?
Richard Smith, Executive Director, UnitedHealth UK
Dr Richard Smith gave the DARE (‘Doctors’ Awards Redistribution Enterprise’) lecture at the Faculty of Public Health’s annual conference. The lecture is a result of funds provided in 1983 by a group of consultants and community physicians, the aim of which is to invite a speaker who will stimulate lively debate on a current hot topic in public health.
This year’s speaker, Richard Smith, a former editor of the BMJ, is currently director of the UnitedHealth Chronic Disease Initiative. This is a programme to counter the pandemic of chronic disease (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and the cancers caused by smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity), and has centres across the developing world.
His speech was titled “Rediscovering public health through global health: simple lessons we need to keep relearning”, and challenges public health practitioners to look beyond their own small corner of the world, and take a global outlook on health. Global health equalities are huge, and the gap is widening. Smith argues that it doesn’t have to be this way; there are a number of small but significant changes that we can make to achieve a big difference. We have to pay close attention to greater investment in preventative health, while creating healthier, more sustainable communities for people to live in. Developed countries can learn much from developing countries, and many of the last decade’s most important innovations have originated in places like Bangladesh (oral rehydraton therapy), Colombia (“kangaroo care”) and India (Polypill), to name just three.