Tanaka Business School hosts international health briefing

The World Health Editors Network (WHEN), a healthcare communications network, recently hosted an HIV/AIDS briefing for international journalists at Tanaka Business School.

Professor Rifat Atun, from the Healthcare Management Research Group at the Business School explained the context for the event: “HIV is a big problem for everyone – including Europe.  Europe for example has the fastest growing incidence rate of HIV.  Alongside that we have an accompanying problem of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

Professor Atun added, “If all these epidemics collide, as they already have done in Africa, the results will be catastrophic.” The event brought together a range of agencies and research organisations that presented new studies, plans and reports addressing the issue of HIV/AIDS in 2008. 

The keynote presentation was given by Professor Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa.  Professor Lewis discussed the controversy over UN HIV/AIDS reporting that surfaced recently.
Professor Atun, presented an analysis on how Europe was performing against its commitments as agreed in the Dublin Declaration. 

The Declaration was signed in 2004, by European Ministers who agreed a set of targets to improve the provision of health services for AIDS sufferers.  He concluded that whilst the intent of the Declaration was praiseworthy, there are operational and governance issues that impede the effective use of the Declaration as a policy framework.

“With poor evidence informing the Declaration at its inception it is not only difficult to benchmark progress, it is also challenging to identify where there are weaknesses and gaps in the statistical data being used today”, explained Professor Atun.  “Lines of accountability were not clearly established so understanding who should be held responsible if the objectives are not met also proves extremely difficult.”
Oxfam, the European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control, GTZ Germany – a sustainable development organisation, the World Health Organisation and the UK’s Terence Higgins Trust also presented at the event.

Professor Atun is a member of the Business Schools Healthcare Management Group, which is comprised of economists and management experts dedicated to improving healthcare outcomes across the globe. It hopes to achieve this through better understanding and improvement of healthcare systems, service provision and the built environment in which healthcare services are offered.  It is particularly interested in the impact of incentives on innovation and healthcare productivity.

The Group draws on many disciplines to provide theoretical and empirical analysis of healthcare systems and public health programmes.  Its work informs policy design and organisational behaviour in this field of which Professor Atun’s work on HIV/AIDS is one example.

The Group uses analysis methods from health economics, management accounting, organisational behaviour, and management information systems. The new economics of happiness and wellbeing are also utilised to provide insights into the measuring the success of healthcare policies. The analysis of healthcare also embraces the pharmaceutical sector and biomedicine, from global giants to small entrepreneurial start-ups.

About Professor Atun: Rifat Atun is Professor of International Health Management and the Director of Centre for Health Management. Rifat leads a multidiciplinary research group involved in a number of international and UK based research programmes. His research explores how contextual and health systems factors influence the uptake and diffusion of complex health innovations and new technologies (for example communicable disease control programmes for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, primary health care programmes, and technology enabled new services. 

He and his group collaborate closely with international organisations such as the World Bank and the World Health Organization and research groups at leading universities. Rifat is a director of two Imperial College spin out companies operating in areas of biotechnology and nanotechnology. He consults and undertakes research programmes with the World Bank, World Health Organization, the UK Department for International Development and leading companies such as Pfizer Inc., the Vodafone Group and Tata Consulting Services.

Rifat advises a number of governments in Europe, Latin America, Central Asia and the Middle East. He is member of the Strategic Technical Advisory Group of the World Health Organization for tuberculosis and Chairs the WHO Task Force on Health Systems and Tuberculosis Control. He is a Member of the Advisory Committee for WHO Research Centre for Health Development in Japan.

For further information on the event, including videos of the speakers, go to:
http://www.jordantv.co.uk/when/

Further information on the World Health Editors’ Network go to:
 http://www.whcaonline.org/