On 4th May, Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Chair of the Southgate Institute’s International Advisory Board, gave a lecture on “Health Equity: Taking Action” at the Centre for Remote Health in Alice Springs. Sir Michael Marmot is Professor of Epidemiology at University College London. He was Chair of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), which was set up by the World Health Organization in 2005, and included Prof Fran Baum AO, Director of the Southgate Institute, as a Commissioner. The CSDH produced the report entitled: ‘Closing the Gap in a Generation’ in August 2008. The lecture was chaired by the new Vice President and Executive Dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Prof. Jonathan Craig with Centre for Remote Health lecturer Kathleen Martin providing the Welcome to Country. About 140 people attended the event. The lecture presented global data on health inequities and the social gradient, and provided numerous examples of actions that can contribute to reducing health inequities. These actions ranged from early childhood development, social security payments and the value to be gain from preventing tax avoidance by trans-national corporations. A recording of the lecture can be found at : http://video.flinders.edu.au/events/Health_Equity_Taking_Action_2018.cfm
While in Alice Springs, Sir Michael Marmot was welcomed by staff of Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, a frequent research collaborator of the Southgate Institute. Sir Michael, Prof. Fran Baum, and Dr Toby Freeman were shown around many of Congress’s impressive services, including early childhood and remote clinics, and met with senior Congress executives, managers, board members including Chair William Tilmouth, and the Congress research team.