A Journey to the Tropics

Tuberculosis (TB), the archetypal disease of poverty, kills 1.3 million people per year. This lecture explores evidence for social and economic (socioeconomic) interventions to end TB, from 19th-century Europe to 21st-century Peru. It will be of interest to anyone who loves history (or hip-hop!) and wants to think about the broader impact that poverty has on communities’ health and wellbeing.

Being a health worker can be highly pressurised, especially in busy maternity units. We can have good days and bad days at work. My talk will explore research carried out in Bangladesh and Malawi, which used diaries to understand some of the challenges and enablers nurse midwives experience during their shift. Many of the findings can be applied to all health workers, but in this talk you'll discover how working in areas with limited resources can exacerbate the situation and often cause moral distress.

The mosquito is responsible for many thousands of deaths per year, many due to the transmission of the malaria parasite. We will explore the different ways homes can be modified to prevent mosquito entry and the transmission of malaria. In the early 1900s, house screening was a common method of malaria prevention, however nowadays it is rarely considered as it is thought of as too expensive and difficult to implement. I argue these simple methods should not be overlooked and will discuss the evidence for the implementation of these interventions in various settings.