Advancing human health in the era of climate change and planetary health: lessons and experiences from the Philippines
In recent years, planetary health has evolved not just as an emerging field of scientific inquiry but also as a novel policy framework, fresh ethical paradigm, and renewed basis for collective action that integrates both the health of people and the planet.
Over the past century, human activities have grown economies, improved health, and enhanced the quality of life – at the expense of the world’s natural resources. Today, global environmental change – not just in the form of climate change but also biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, and other ecosystem alterations – is threatening the health of future generations in return.
As a tropical archipelagic country with a rising economy yet with chronic poverty and persistent inequality, the Philippines is undeniably a planetary health hotspot, hit by natural disasters and slowly affected by the subtle manifestations of climate breakdown. However, the country, with its rich natural capital, untapped energy and creativity, and innate societal resilience, also has an immense potential to be a world leader in planetary health transformation.
In this seminar, Dr Guinto, Chief Planetary Doctor of PH Lab – a ‘glo-cal think-and-do tank’ for generating planetary health solutions in the developing world – and a recent Doctor of Public Health graduate of Harvard University, will share his perspectives about this new exciting field of planetary health as well as lessons and experiences from the Philippines as the country confronts climate change and other planetary health challenges.
A recording will be made available shortly after the event. Follow us on Twitter @georgeinstuk with #GeorgeSeminars to catch the release.
Speakers
Dr Renzo Guinto
A Filipino physician working at the nexus of global health and sustainable development, Dr Guinto is the Chief Planetary Doctor of PH Lab – a ‘glo-cal think-and-do tank’ for advancing the health of both people and the planet. A global health ‘deep generalist,’ Renzo brings with him nearly a decade of experience in global health policy, research, advocacy, implementation, and innovation at local, national, regional, and international levels, covering the public and private sectors as well as civil society and the United Nations system, and spanning a diverse range of themes such as climate change, planetary health, universal health care, migrant health, global health security, noncommunicable diseases, global health governance and diplomacy, healthcare innovation, social determinants of health, among others. Previously, he worked for the Philippine Department of Health, International Organization for Migration, World Health Organization, World Bank, Health Care Without Harm, UP Manila Universal Health Care Study Group and Harvard Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment. He received numerous prestigious fellowships including the New Voices Fellowship of the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC and the Emerging Voices for Global Health in Cape Town, South Africa.
The double burden of diabetes and global infection
77% of people with diabetes mellitus now live in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), and the incidence of diabetes is accelerating in poorer communities.
The majority of people with diabetes are thought to have Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) although further research on diabetes subtypes in LMIC is needed. Diabetes increases susceptibility to infection and / or worsens outcomes for major global infections such as tuberculosis (TB), dengue, influenza and Gram-negative sepsis including Salmonella species and the neglected tropical disease melioidosis. Melioidosis is caused by the soil bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, has a 40% hospitalised case fatality rate in LMIC, and an estimated 89,000 global death toll. People with diabetes have a twelve-fold increased risk of melioidosis compared to non-diabetics, and up to two-thirds of melioidosis patients have T2DM. There is a large overlap between populations at risk of diabetes and those at risk of melioidosis, resulting in an estimated 280 million people with diabetes now living in melioidosis-endemic countries across the world. In addition, people with diabetes bear a disproportionate burden of drug-resistant infections from bacteria with antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
This talk will give an overview of what is known about the epidemiology of diabetes and infection, and discuss potential mechanisms for the increased risk of infection, and in particular for the exquisite susceptibility of people with diabetes to melioidosis. International treatment guidelines for T2DM are based on research conducted in high-income countries focussed on preventing adverse cardiovascular outcomes and early death. There is a lack of evidence on which to base treatment guidelines for people living in LMIC, where there is an increased burden of infectious diseases. The literature to date on the impact of treatment on infection risk and outcomes will be discussed. Finally, the role of vaccination of people with diabetes will be discussed. It is noted that a public health vaccine for melioidosis would be targeted at people with diabetes in the first instance, as this group represents a well-defined and accessible population for evaluation of a melioidosis vaccine.
The presentation slides from Susie's seminar are available here.
Speakers
Associate Professor Susanna Dunachie
Susanna is Associate Professor in Tropical Medicine at the University of Oxford. She trained as a doctor in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Oxford, Glasgow and Newcastle, and did a PhD with Adrian Hill and Helen Fletcher in Oxford on developing malaria vaccines.
New research on the salt content of sauces in China and the UK, led by Queen Mary University of London and The George Institute China, has produced the following findings:
Long-term care financing and women
Speakers
Adelina Comas-Herrera, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow, Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC), LSE
Adelina Comas-Herrera is co-lead of the Strengthening Responses to Dementia in Developing Countries (STRiDE) project, a multi-national research project funded by the Research Councils UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund involving Brazil, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, and South Africa. The project aims to build capacity to generate research to support the development of policy responses to dementia.
Her main research interests are economic aspects of care, treatment and support of people with dementia, and long-term care financing, in the UK and globally. She has extensive experience on developing simulation models of the future resources required to address long-term care needs and needs arising from dementia.
Neurodegenerative disease: understanding the mechanisms of risk
Speakers
Professor Clare Mackay
Professor Clare Mackay is the co-ordinator of Oxford Dementia and Ageing Research (OxDARE) and Head of the Tranlational Neuroimaging Group. She is a Senior Research Fellow in the Dept of Psychiatry who studies brain structure and function in health and disease. Her research in the last few years has focused on using Magnetic Resonance Imaging to study risk factors for neurodegenerative disease. Her group has a particular interest in the effects of APOE genotype on brain structure and function in healthy individuals throughout adulthood.
Healthy Active Life Expectancy - a woman's perspective
It is well known that women have longer life expectancy at all ages than men but the majority of these extra years are years with disability and ill-health. With a focus on different health expectancies, this presentation will compare men and women's current trends and inequalities, future trends, and discuss possible solutions to give more healthy years.
Speakers
Professor Carol Jagger, AXA Prof of Epidemiology of Ageing
Carol holds the AXA Chair in Epidemiology of Ageing in the Institute of Health and Society and she is Deputy Director of the Newcastle University Institute for Ageing (NUIA). Her first degree was in mathematics and she holds an MSc in Statistics from the University of Leeds and a PhD in Statistics from the University of Leicester. From 1981 until 2010 she was in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Leicester. She has an Honorary Visiting Fellowship at the Department of Public Health and Primary care, University of Cambridge.
Carol is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health (by distinction), Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society (C.Stat) and Chartered Scientist (CSci), Honorary Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and Member of the British Geriatrics Society.
The George Institute for Global Health, UK and the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing are hosting a joint seminar series on Older Women’s Health, linked to two new initiatives at the University of Oxford – the Ageing Research Collaborative Hub @ Oxford and the Women’s Health @ Oxford.
A/Professor Clare Arnott is Head of the Cardiovascular Program and Director of the Global Better Treatments Program at The George Institute for Global Health and Staff Specialist cardiologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Cardiovascular disease claims the most lives of any illness. Ahead of World Heart Day on September 29, we offer insights to debunk popular assumptions that affect advances in knowledge and improvements in health.
