This year marks the 40 year anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration, a landmark agreement that committed the world to expanding health access and tackling social inequalities for better health for all. In part a political manifesto declaring health as a human right, and part practical template to deliver better health through cost effective, evidence based, community led initiatives that integrate into broader health care systems with a focus on prevention.
At Global Ideas we believe in the principles of Alma Ata and recognise the interconnectedness of health determinants and outcomes. We believe in integrative, ground-up approaches to improving human health that start from the the people most affected. We believe that to amplify our impact we need to master integrative methods and thought models that place people at the centre to strengthen our strategies and improve uptake and adherence to our interventions.
Over the last few years Global Ideas has been teaching human centred design methods through our Design Jams and Sprints, bringing together a community of human centred designers, entrepreneurs and health workers to master the mental models to deliver integrative design solutions.
Looking ahead to 2019 we see the biggest challenges to human health and development such as climate change, obesity and antibiotic resistance as challenges that require a commitment to behaviour change at scale, often against our base instincts and immediate self interests. These kind of system challenges demand integrative design-led approaches that unleash the creativity of health entrepreneurs. Therefore in 2019 Global Ideas will explicitly focus all our programming on the intersection of design, health and entrepreneurship to deliver better health for all.
We will be back in 2019 with a more focussed suite of programs that will be explicit about whether they’re information events to introduce you to a new topic, knowledge events to extend your understanding in a content area or action events, to network, collaborate and put our design tools to work. We look forward to you joining us on that journey.
Whether you’re an Enterprising Erin an Insha the Innovator or a Grassroots Greg you’ll find powerful new tools and connections through the Global Ideas community to advance your career and global health influence in 2019. I hope that you’ll take some time over summer to decompress, disconnect from social media, reconnect with nature and return in the new year ready to unleash your passion and determination to build healthier lives, healthier communities and a healthier planet.
Merry Christmas!
Lloyd