Hosted by Nick Eynon-Lewis, this fantastic virtual conference focused on significant global health inequalities and attracted more than 100 attendees and presenters from all over the globe.
Joshua Weidermann (right), from the Mayo Clinic, opened with an enlightening talk on capacity building for paediatric ENT surgical care in low- and middle-income countries, sharing his personal experience of working in Ethiopia. An array of inspiring talks followed. Jane Booth shared her experience of setting up the Breatheasy programme, empowering mothers to care for children with tracheostomies and allowing them to return home rather than live in hospitals indefinitely.
Maryana Cherkes (left) gave a heartfelt talk on the enormous challenges she overcame to bring her vision of a hearing and speech centre in Western Ukraine to life, only to be crushed by the outbreak of war earlier this year. Her determination to overcome these challenges and advocate for deaf children was inspiring.
The morning concluded with topical free paper presentations in global health surgery. The awards for best oral presentations went to not one but two presenters – Wisha Gul, a CT2 from the North-West, for a talk on challenges of implementing a hearing-care programme for children in India, and Chaorui Li, an FY from Southampton, for his excellent presentation on global tobacco control via taxation.
It was also too close to call for the ENT Global Health Grant of £2000 that was awarded to three proposals, one of which is our very own Emma Stapleton and Sarah Timms to set up a hearing health clinic in Uganda. Other winning proposals were a global survey to assess the H&N surgery infrastructure and training, and a project to improve capacity for tracheostomy care in Uganda.
The afternoon sessions included a variety of thought-provoking talks on global health politics and sustainability. Julia Anaf from Adelaide talked on transnational corporations and their impact on health and equity. Closer to home, Claire Greszczuk, Public Health Consultant from Newham, talked about the difficulties in putting ‘health in all policies’ into action. From across the Atlantic, Neelu Tummala, co-director of the Climate Health Institute GWU, spoke on the critical issue of planetary health and sustainability. The day closed with inspiring talks on provision of H&N services in resource-poor environments, highlighting the untapped potential for research and training and the significant strides being made across the world from South Africa and Ethiopia to Mumbai.
Congratulations to all the winners and many thanks to the presenters. We look forward to the next ENT Global Health conference in 2023.
Wisha Gul, ENT CT2, Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan, UK.
