Blog posts

Collaborating globally for better healthcare

Healthcare is for all.

Here at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, we know there’s no better way to make progress towards this than working together.

Global collaboration allows us to learn from each other’s experiences and successes and can result in unique solutions which carefully consider cultural and systemic differences.

To mark World Health Day, we’re shining a light on five IGHI projects, where working with international partners has brought tremendous benefits when creating innovative responses to healthcare challenges.

COVID-19 reveals the injustices that underlie health inequities: what are the implications?

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the social injustices that are holding back equity in health and care.

People living in poverty and deprivation are some of the hardest to reach and easiest to leave behind.

This means poor people are absorbing much of the brunt of the pandemic’s impacts, faced with challenges that leave them among the worst affected by the virus and exacerbating the struggles they already carry.

How seldom heard groups are helping us shape our research priorities – learnings so far

Last summer, the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College Health Partners and Imperial College London were successful in being named as one of the five Network Data Labs (NDL) across the UK, funded by the Health Foundation.

This is an extremely exciting opportunity for our partnership. We have the opportunity to work with our local community in North West London to identify research priorities for health and care since COVID-19, and translate those findings into practice – helping to reduce inequalities.

In North West London we are also very fortunate to have access to a linked data set, known as Discover.

One year on – how our researchers have responded to the pandemic

“We’re in this together.” One year ago, on 11th March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Back then, little over 100,000 cases had been reported globally. Today that number is 1,000 times greater and growing ceaselessly.

With a barely known virus rippling across the world, so too did fear and uncertainty spread as the WHO Director-General addressed all people and nations to make the declaration. Shifting the focus from COVID-19 to people and unity, Dr Tedros also sparked glimmers of optimism by emphasising that innovation and learning would be integral to saving lives and minimising the impact of the pandemic.

How does branding and pricing affect our spending on over-the-counter drugs?

When we’re having issues with our health, as well as visiting the doctor or hospital, one option we have is purchasing over-the-counter (OTC) medicines to treat ourselves at home.

OTC drugs can be purchased without a prescription from a doctor. They tend to be affordable and have low production costs.

#ForUsByUs – co-designing a mental health solution owned by the Black community 

Growing up in a Caribbean family that had experienced various traumas and challenges, I had some awareness of how mental illness impacted myself and my relatives. However, it wasn’t until I attended a masterclass last year on Black mental health hosted by BAME in Psychiatry & Psychology and the Centre of Pan African Thought that I realised the nuanced challenges faced by members of the Black community.