The Inaugural Lecture of Professor Justine Davies: Developing quality health systems in challenging settings

You are invited to attend the inaugural lecture of Professor Justine Davies from the Institute of Applied Health Research.

"We are privileged in the UK to have one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Should we become ill, we can visit a healthcare professional, at any time, without having to consider costs. We also know that the treatment that we receive will be of high quality, and caring.

"Unfortunately, much of the world’s population is not so privileged. Healthcare services in lower and middle income countries (also known as “developing countries”) are often fragmented, poor quality, and costly. This is especially the case for people suffering from conditions that international donors are not focussed on. Whilst international funding has helped to provide care for people with conditions such as malaria or HIV, for people with conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease or strokes, or conditions that require surgical care, healthcare is minimal. We recently estimated that 5 billion people (most of the world’s population) couldn’t access quality surgical care if they were to require it; in Sierra Leone only 8% of people with high blood pressure and 5% of people with diabetes are on adequate treatment.

"These figures are shocking, and the research that I, and my collaborators do aims to show disparities and provide solutions. In this talk, I will detail some of the research that we have done in the field and how this is being used to start to change health systems for the better."