05 Dec From Just Transitions to Global Health Ethics: Joep Lange Chair and Fellows Symposium 2024 Tackles Hard-Hitting Themes in Global Health

The first week of November saw the 4th edition of the Joep Lange Chair and Fellows Symposium. Co-organized by AIGHD and the Joep Lange Institute, the symposium is built on the legacy of our late founder, Prof. Joep Lange, who dedicated his life to bridging health gaps through equitable systems.

We chose the theme “Towards a Just Future in Global Health” because despite the decades of work put into making health systems more accessible around the world, many people still continue to suffer. This is not only reflected in the Global South under impoverished settings but even here in The Netherlands and across Europe.

Speaking at the symposium were Assistant Professor of Children’s Rights and Global Health at Leiden University Sheila Varadan, Professor Nicaise Ndembi from the Africa Centers for Disease Control, Associate Professor of Global Health at King’s College London Sridhar Venkatapuram, and Senior World Bank Economist to the Middle East and North Africa region Ellen van de Poel (PhD).

The afternoon was filled with lively discussions as our virtual and in-person audiences engaged with conviction, fueled by our host Emeritus Professor Roel Coutinho. You can find the entire symposium on our YouTube. We’ve also cut it up based on the speaker’s sessions. Here are the links:

• “Towards a Just Future in Global Health” – JLCF Symposium 2024 Full
• Sridhar Venkatapuram on Academic Global Health and Global Health Justice
• Ellen van de Poel on Bridging Research-Policy Gaps in Global Health
• Nicaise Ndembi on Ending Epidemics and Preventing Pandemics
• Sheila Varadan on Just Transitions for Antimicrobial Resistance
• Panel Discussion

The symposium concluded with an invitation to share thoughts and ideas over small bites and drinks as well as an intimate dinner between the organizers and speakers.

Our organizing committee is confident that these ideas will continue to permeate and ripple across the field of global health. Our hope is that with action and commitment, we can thoughtfully expand our idea of global health to become more inclusive, accessible, and aware of its own biases and issues.

Prof. Varadan put it succinctly, sharing that the field of global health is still often limited to a clinical or medical approach. Global health requires more participation across communities and disciplines, bringing new and novel ideas to life, and giving way to new ways of understanding and accessing health.

AIGHD would like to thank the Joep Lange Institute for their support, for the Scientific Organizing Committee (Constance Schultsz, Michiel Heidenrijke, Tobias Rinke de Wit, Wendy Janssens, Ria Reis, Henry Tumwijukye, Willemijn Maria de Beer, and Guus ten Asbroek), for our coordination and organizing team (Lea Maria Liekefedt and Matt Ang), and our venue host and provider, De Balie.

 

 

Event photos (taken and edited by Matt Ang). These photos are usable for non-commercial purposes only. Attribution to AIGHD and Matt Ang is required.