A group of young girls play at a center for children in contact with the law, from a series examining the state of Liberian health care system. The photo was part of the exhibit Life, Challenges and Hope, on display at the inaugural symposium for the HMS Center for Global Health—Dubai. Image: Shehzad Noorani.
A group of young girls play at a center for children in contact with the law, from a series examining the state of Liberian health care system. The photo was part of the exhibit Life, Challenges and Hope, on display at the inaugural symposium for the HMS Center for Global Health—Dubai. Image: Shehzad Noorani.
The discovery and development of new treatment options will improve the health of patients only if they can be delivered to those who most need them, said speakers at the inaugural symposium of the Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery-Dubai.
The symposium, Delivering Health Globally—Examining the Challenges of the 21st Century, brought together hundreds of leaders, physicians and scientists from around the world to discuss how to overcome gaps in health care delivery.
The Center, established in 2014, is a hub for research, education and policy formulation. Its mission is to address how to optimize the last phase of health care delivery—ensuring that care providers have the systems and tools necessary to treat men, women and children in the communities where they live.
“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 HMS associate professor of global health and social medicine. “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.
The symposium, taking 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, was held in the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Center in Dubai Healthcare City on Sunday, Oct. 25.
It highlighted the scientific, social and economic dimensions of disease and health care, focusing on challenges and innovations in care delivery for infectious disease, surgical care and mental health.
The event also included an evocative photographic exhibit featuring images by Shehzad Noorani, an award-winning documentary photographer.
Leaders from both Harvard and Dubai, whose efforts were instrumental in establishing the Center, shared lessons about how to successfully collaborate on projects to advance biomedical education and research. Speakers and attendees were enthusiastic about the Center’s transformative potential.
Abdul Rahman Bin Mohammed Al Owais, UAE Minister of Health, said: “The launch of Harvard Medical School Center for Health Care Delivery-Dubai demonstrates the constructive cooperation between the Ministry of Health and the world’s leading academic organizations. The collaboration aims at encouraging the exchange of important knowledge to develop key scientific research that can allow us to offer world-class health services for individuals and communities in the UAE—enhancing the trust of clients and achieving world health security. The partnership falls in line with the directives of His Highness President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai. This new center aims to add unique value to the health care sector and enhance the pioneering role of the UAE in the move to adopt future strategies, particularly in the effort to create comprehensive health programs and a more sustainable environment.”
His Excellency Humaid Al Qatami, chairman of the board and director general of the Dubai Health Authority said, “The establishment of this Center will help strengthen Dubai’s role in the field of health care delivery research. It 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.” Al Qatami added that the health sector is ever-evolving and research is a vital tool that must be encouraged and developed.
“There is no substitute for education and research to drive innovation in health care. The inaugural symposium demonstrates the importance of improving health care delivery—making it efficient, accessible, patient-centric and technologically advanced,” said Her Excellency Dr. Raja Al Gurg, vice chairperson and executive director, Dubai Healthcare City Authority.
Amid the rapid changes associated with the health care industry, the Center is working to develop competencies in the health care sector, she explained. “We look forward to the Center’s continued contribution in the field and to strengthening Dubai Healthcare City’s portfolio of medical and research institutions, which includes the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences and Al Jalila Foundation Research Centre,” said Dr. Al Gurg.
Other speakers echoed these sentiments, highlighting the benefits of having a collaborative center based in Dubai that will benefit people throughout the world.
“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.”
Effective care delivery must take into account the complex social components of disease, the speakers noted.
For example, obesity—the single greatest risk factor fueling the rising epidemic of diabetes—is as much a societal problem as it is a medical one, said Merri Pendergrass, professor of medicine and diabetes program director for the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
“Obesity is not something you can fix in a doctor’s office,” Pendergrass said, adding that patients and care providers need to think about how food and weight are related to non-medical factors such as dietary customs and the availability of places to exercise. Many other diseases are also associated with similarly complex social aspects, including economic status, level of education and race.
These complex social causes of disease leave room for many innovative solutions to the challenges of care delivery. Many speakers mentioned strategies that both empower patients and that are cost effective, such as text messages with reminders about healthy lifestyle practices, which have had promising results in reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease.
When attention is paid to the science of delivery—measuring the problem, testing hypotheses about how best to treat patients and prevent poor outcomes—turnaround can be very rapid, said Paul Farmer, Kolokotrones University Professor at Harvard and head of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS. Farmer cited case studies that surprised skeptics who initially believed the challenges to treatment would be intractable. These included treating TB in Siberian prisons and the slums of Lima, Peru, as well as delivering anti-retroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Instead of assuming treatment would fail and giving up without trying, Farmer said, the route to success was to pick an approach that might work, try it and examine the results.
“Not only are you doing something that might help the patient, you’re measuring it and trying to improve it,” Farmer said. “That’s delivery science.”
Attendees expressed excitement about the about the Center’s prospects for moving toward effective solutions to health delivery challenges in the 21st century.
“This was a memorable day as we brought together so many world-class researchers from around the world, who are dedicating their lives to delivering health care to those who live with the most challenging of conditions,” said Sehamuddin Galadari, HMS senior lecturer in global health and social medicine and academic and research advisor at the Al Jalila Foundation. “When we work together and share our diverse perspectives with one another, we can make meaningful and lasting advances in global health care.”
Speakers acknowledged the support of the Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research, which has provided funding for the Center to operate for four years. These funds support research grants, fellowships and collaborative working meetings that bring together top researchers, clinicians and policy advocates from around the world.
“We at HMS are privileged to collaborate with our colleagues in Dubai in this important effort. The Center is a vital hub where we can work together to have a tremendous impact on the health of men, women and children around the world,” said Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of Harvard Medical School in a video welcome address.
Also attending were leaders from both the UAE and HMS, whose efforts successfully launched the Center, including His Excellency Humaid Al Quttami, director general of Dubai Health Authority, Her Excellency Dr. Raja Al Gurg, vice chair of Dubai Healthcare City Authority, Nart Mamser, engineer and Dubai Healthcare City Authority board member, Paul R. Malik, consul general at the U.S. Consulate General in Dubai, and David Golan, HMS dean for basic science and graduate education.
The attendees in the auditorium were joined online by viewers participating in the symposium by live video stream from locations around the world, including Harvard University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Division of Global Health Equity in Boston and our many other partner hospitals, Partners In Health sites worldwide, interactive research and development sites, and the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda.
