Global Hub

Hundreds of global experts on the science of health care delivery attended events on Oct. 25-27 at the Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery-Dubai, to discuss a plan for improving health worldwide.

HMS faculty joined leading clinicians, researchers, advocates and government representatives from Brazil, China, Dubai, India, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, South Africa and other countries discussed case studies from the vanguard of global health delivery.

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“This Center is a remarkable place, where we have embarked on research and training that is moving us closer to that goal of ensuring that the fruits of modern medicine reach those who need it most,” said Salmaan Keshavjee, director of the Center and associate professor of global health and social medicine at HMS. “Our mission is scientific, but it is also profoundly moral.”

“You can take a drug all the way from the researcher’s laboratory bench to the hospital bedside, but if you can’t put it in people’s mouths, you haven’t met your goal,” Keshavjee said.

An evocative photographic exhibit featuring images by Shehzad Noorani, an award-winning documentary photographer, was on display during the events, showing the challenging social, economic and political contexts in which health care delivery must take place.

Events occurred over three days. The first event, the Center’s inaugural symposium, took place on Sunday, Oct. 25. Speakers examined care delivery gaps in the treatment of major diseases affecting the United Arab Emirates, the broader region and the world. These conditions included diabetes and obesity, surgical care, infectious disease and mental health. Speakers emphasized the importance of developing local capacity for research, systems building and care delivery. These topics are all at the core of the Center’s research and training mission.

His Excellency Humaid Al Qatami, chairman of the board and director general of the Dubai Health Authority, noted in a statement that the Center “will provide evidence-based data on which health policy and developmental programs can be based. This is vital to achieve effective outcomes and foster further development of the health sector.”

Many presenters and attendees shared that sense of the Center’s potential.

“Your activities in this region, at the intersection of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, are critically important,” said Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group in a video message. “This Center, I am sure, will play a defining role in addressing the gap in health care delivery.”

The second and third events were focused on presenting the scientific, clinical and policy case for a campaign to eradicate tuberculosis, and highlighting a new global effort underway to test that case.

On Monday morning, the Center hosted a launch event for a new series in The Lancet, which focused on charting a course to end the global epidemic of tuberculosis, a scourge that currently kills 1.5 million people every year.

On Monday afternoon and throughout the day Tuesday, the Center hosted the launch of Zero TB Cities, an ambitious program that aims to follow the course outlined in the Lancet papers to rapidly eliminate TB in municipalities around the globe.

Fighting the disease requires a comprehensive approach that includes actively identifying people with tuberculosis disease and infection, treating all forms of TB with targeted, effective therapies and addressing the many social factors that contribute to the spread of the epidemic and mortality from TB. Current policies generally advocate treating only the sickest patients, which allows the disease to continue to spread unchecked.

“There's been a breakdown somewhere,” said Pamela Das, senior executive editor at The Lancet, speaking at the launch of the Lancet series. “Here we sit today and we see what does work if we do it properly. We can't wait for global institutions … we've got to go out there and do it.”

The inaugural symposium on Sunday included a keynote address by Paul Farmer, the Kolokotrones University Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard and head of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS. Jim Kim and Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of HMS, also addressed the meeting by video. The Monday and Tuesday events included leading tuberculosis researchers and clinicians from around the world.

“We at Harvard Medical School are privileged to collaborate with our colleagues in Dubai in this important effort to address gaps in global health care delivery in Dubai, the region and the world,” Flier said.

“We are pleased to welcome a world-class institution—the Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery-Dubai to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Center, the seat of medical education and research at Dubai Healthcare City,” said Her Excellency Dr. Raja Al Gurg, vice chairperson and executive director, Dubai Healthcare City Authority, in a statement.

The Center was established in 2014. All of the events were held at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Center in Dubai Healthcare City, where the Center recently opened its headquarters.

The inaugural symposium took place under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai.

Funding for the Center is being provided by a four-year grant from the Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research. The events were supported by funding to HMS from Janssen Global.