Leaving no one behind 

- Global surgery - a neglected part of the health care system?

- Who lags behind in the work to reach the SDG?

When:    Tuesday 24 October, 2023
Where:   KA12, Knowledge centre, NTNU/St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim

The global health day has been arranged every fall since 2010, with both national and international speakers and participants. NTNU is hosting the day in collaboration with SINTEF and St. Olavs Hospital. The conference is an arena for presentations and discussions on current subjects on research for improved health in low- and middle-income countries and of relevance for Norwegian research environments.

Target group: The conference aims at bringing together Norwegian and international researchers, students, health professionals, policy makers and others with an interest in global health.

The registration for the conference is now open:

Registration Deadline is 22 October. 

Program for the conference

Presentation of speakers - Session 1  Presentation of speakers - Session 2

If you are not able to attend physicaly, you can follow stream.
 

Some confirmed speakers:

Session 1: Global surgery - a neglected part of the health care system?

Global surgery is an area of study, research, practice, and advocacy that seeks to improve health outcomes and achieve health equity for all people who require surgical care, with a special emphasis on underserved populations. In this session, we explore some of the challenges and opportunities to deliver safe, high-quality surgical and anesthesia care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the health-care workforce is limited.

Alemnesh T. Reta is Implmentation manager in Lærdal Global Health, has more than 30 years of progressive experience in maternal, newborn and child health spanning from clinical care, academic staff to program management. She has extensive experience in program management and leadership, providing technical guidance in the development, management and evaluation of maternal and newborn health programs. In August 2016, she joined Laerdal global health as a program implementation specialist. Alemnesh is a Nurse, a Midwife, and Public Health specialist by Education. Before her current position at Laerdal Global health, she worked at Jhpiego Ethiopia office as deputy project director for the USAID funded Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP). She is a former president of Ethiopian Midwives Association.

Herman Lonnee is trained as anesthesiolog and has his position at St. Olavs Hospital. he have a long expirience from low-and midle income countris. The last year he has worked at Mercy James Centre for Paediatric Surgery and Intensive Care in Blantyre, Malawi.

David Ljungman is an associate professor of surgery at Sahlgrenska Academy and consultant colorectal surgeon at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden. Although his PhD was in clinical and experimental aspects on pancreatic cancer he has done important work in global surgery data capture methods. He was Paul Farmer Global Surgery Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School 2016-2018 and Bengt Ihre Research Fellow 2018-2020.

Juul Bakker is a medical doctor in Global Health and Tropical Medicine. She is currently a PhD candidate at NTNU while also serving as the Country Director for CapaCare in Liberia. Her research centers on the implementation of surgical training in Liberia, evaluating the impact of a decade-long postgraduate program and conducting a surgical training needs analysis among healthcare professionals. By integrating research with her work for CapaCare, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing quality surgical care in low-income countries through capacity-building of local health professionals, she strives to ensure that the findings are not only relevant but also directly applicable to the implementation of surgical training in Liberia

Session 2: Who lags behind in the work to reach the SDG?

Despite the noble ideals of “health for all” and “leaving no one behind” embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), various groups around the world continue to face barriers when trying to access essential healthcare and well-being. This session will delve into real-world challenges and stories that highlight the importance of inclusive global health initiatives. The speakers in this session will discuss the persistent gaps in healthcare access on a global scale. Through these talks and discussions, our goal is to foster a deeper understanding of the complex issues surrounding health equity and inspire collaborative efforts to make the promise of “leaving no one behind” a more tangible reality.

The Oslo Governance Centre is UNDPs dedicated Global Policy Centre for Governance issues. It promotes transformative governance for peaceful, just and inclusive societies. The Centre creates knowledge, insight and data on key governance challenges by drawing on the experience of practitioners, policymakers and researchers. Oslo Governance Centre responds to complex and rapidly evolving policy landscapes by creating mutually reinforcing linkages between UNDP's on the ground governance work in over 170 countries and territories and global thought-leadership. Through this converging of perspectives, we unravel complex governance puzzles and frontier challenges in a way that benefits both global dialogue and citizen experience, restoring faith in democratic governance at all levels. The presenter on Global Health Day will be Harald Thørud.

Katrin Glatz Brubakk is a child psychologist, Assistant Professor at NTNU and field worker for Doctors Without Borders. Brubakk has worked with displaced people in Congo, Egypt, Greece, on rescue ships in the Mediterranean and in Lebanon for a number of years. In addition, she runs campaign and information work on the living conditions for displaced children.

Brubakk uses her professional expertise for both concrete relief work to improve refugees' mental health, and to engage and educate about how flight and conditions in refugee camps affect mental health in the short and long term. She is the initiator to the campaign group "Moria Movement – for children on the run", which for years through information, mobilization and actions has brought the suffering of displaced children to light. The group was behind the mobilization of people from Finnmark to Lindesnes, which helped collect 7500 pairs of shoes for the children in Moria in 2020. As many as children lived in the camp. Artists, cultural figures, bishops and former ministers supported the demand "Evacuate the children from Moria".

Brubakk is a speaker on the topic of children on the run, trauma, trauma-sensitive care and activism. In addition, she has written a number of chronicles on the topic. Before she trained as a psychologist, Brubakk worked for Save the Children, Amnesty International, Greenpeace and  as a journalist for NRK and Adresseavisen, among others. In 2023, Brubakk published the book Moria. Inside Europe's largest refugee camp together with journalist Guro Kulset Merakerås.

Dr. Sunil Kumar Joshi is a medical doctor (MD) specialized in Occupational Medicine, Diabetology, PhD in Public Health. He has received Swedish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Linkoping University, Sweden. He now works as Professor and Head at the Department of Community Medicine, Kathmandu Medical College (KMC), Nepal, where he teach undergraduate (MBBS) and post graduate (MD, PhD) medical students. He is also appointed as the Vice Principal (Exams and CPD) and Chairman of Institutional Review Committee at KMC. Dr. Sunil Kumar Joshi is a visiting professor at the Faculty of Health & AS, University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, UK. His research interests is Occupational health and safety, Environmental health, Diabetes, Violence against Women, Injuries, violence and disability control and prevention.

Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel is an Associate Professor of Human Geography at the Department of Teacher Education, NTNU. His research interests encompass a broad spectrum of topics within the fields of political ecology, environmental justice, conservation, state violence, development politics and policies, as well as the discourses surrounding sustainable development.

Registration Deadline for registration is 22 October. 

If you are not able to attend physicaly, you can follow stream. This is the link: https://NTNU.zoom.us/j/92629746801?pwd=QXVUUmdYR1ZZeXkvcmxRa3haRWxnZz09

Previous years Global Health Day topics

Organizer

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), SINTEF and St. Olavs Hospital