August 2020 Social Accountability Committee members: Associate Professor Sue Lenthall, Dr Maxine Moore, Dr Annabelle Wilson, Dr Leila Morsy, Associate Professor Anna Ziersch, Associate Professor Jill Carr, Professor Fran Baum, Dr Toby Freeman, Associate Professor Karen Lower, Kath Martin, and Vanessa Ryan
The concept of social accountability as developed and defined for the WHO by Boelen and Heck in 1995 states: [Medical schools have] the obligation to direct their education, research and service activities towards addressing the priority health concerns of the community, region, and/or nation they have a mandate to serve. The priority health concerns are to be identified jointly by governments, health care organizations, health professionals and the public.*
What is our social vision? Broadly, the College aspires for a society that is more socially just and less inequitable. We already have a distinctive ethos of social accountability: our focus on Indigenous health and rural health is a defining feature but our strategy aims to strengthen these efforts and position our people to enable even greater excellence and impact.
How is our social vision evolving? To be fully effective, our social vision needs to be clearly defined and embedded in all aspects of the College’s operations. Our strategy will ensure that through our teaching, research and professional service activities we maximise opportunities to engage with the communities we work with and serve in order to reduce health inequities. Our people, our students and our graduates will recognise and work to advance our commitment to health equity.
In the process of ensuring social accountability, the College will be responsive to the health and wellbeing needs of the communities we serve. We will engage in meaningful partnerships, and prioritise the health of groups who live in disadvantaged circumstances including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from low socio-economic backgrounds, refugees and migrants, people with disabilities, and people of diverse age, gender and ethnicity.
Who has oversight of our social vision? Each and every one of us! The CMPH’s Social Vision Committee was established in early 2018 as part of the Strategic Planning process. The initial group planned and conducted a session at the 2018 CMPH retreat and ran a round table at the 2019 retreat and used the material from those sessions to widen its membership and develop a forward work plan.
What are some highlights of recent activity? The Committee’s major task in 2020 has been to hold discussions with key College research and education leaders to learn about how the CMPH’s social vision is currently expressed in their work and how it might be in the future.
This week the Committee presented its list of recommendation to College Executive, which included plans for continued engagement with course coordinators and researchers. consideration of how the University’s environmental sustainability agenda can be enacted, tackling racism, and developing opportunities for students from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Of particular note is the decision to upgrade the name of the Social Vision Committee to the Social Accountability Committee, reflecting the drive for our distinctive ethos to be an inherent component of our teaching, research, service provision and community interactions.
Why are we in a good position for success? We already have much research that focuses directly on social vision in the Healthy Communities stream of FHMRI and commitments from the other streams to develop this aspect of their work. Our teaching teams are also committed to ensuring that no student leaves a degree hosted in the College without a clear idea of their social accountability and its importance to health and wellbeing. Our geographical footprint allows us to deliver regional academic programs and research that impacts on some of the most under-served communities in Australia.
Can I be involved? Yes! Social accountability is reflected in all facets of our personal, professional and public lives. As a university, it behoves us to lead in this area and for our actions to speak to the world. One way of being involved is to share your stories, which in turn set examples for and inspire others. More formally, you are welcome to express interest in joining the Committee, either as a member or via other creative contributions. We are particularly interested in broadening representation from all along the Central Australian Corridor (and a few extra males to join Toby would also be beneficial!).
Fran and Karen, Co-Chairs, Social Accountability Committee
Professor Fran Baum and Associate Professor Karen Lower
*Rourke, J 2018 Social Accountability: A Framework for Medical Schools to Improve the Health of the Populations They Serve, Academic Medicine, Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges