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Diplomacy
OpinionWorld Opinion
Nora Colton
Nora Colton

Opinion | To overcome global health challenges, collaboration is vital

  • Pandemic showed global health systems can pull together against an acute shared threat. The momentum must be kept up
  • Recent UK healthcare education mission to China is a testament to the importance of keeping dialogue and engagement alive

Reading Time:4 minutes
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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Nora Colton
With pandemics, droughts, floods, wildfires and conflict across the world, we are living in an era of “polycrisis”, which is placing a major toll on global health. Countries are grappling with how to look after ageing populations, combat the rise in non-communicable diseases, address a lack of healthcare access and deal with the rise of misinformation and disinformation in health.
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This rapid, complex change coincides with increased geopolitical tensions and difficult global governance, meaning our ability to tackle these challenges as a global community is falling short.

The pandemic showed us that global health systems can pull together in the face of an acute shared threat. Take the project between UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and China that, building on previous healthcare engagement, saw the two nations collaborate to develop Covid-19 rapid test kits – a significant milestone in enabling Britain to contain and combat the pandemic. Or take EU member states coming together to create a reserve of personal protective equipment that could be quickly mobilised across the bloc.

International dialogue is crucial in building more robust and resilient global healthcare systems. Unfortunately, the momentum for collaboration, such as that between United Kingdom and China, or even among European Union member states, hasn’t been kept up, and this is something all nations should seek to change.

As many global health experts have recognised, there’s mounting evidence that we need to move away from health systems that are too focused on therapeutics, and move towards integrated care. From my conversations with healthcare authorities worldwide and the academic research of the University College London’s Global Business School for Health, it’s clear that an integrated approach is best at preventing sickness, creating services tailored to local needs and keeping healthcare workers engaged.

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While there is no perfect formula for a functioning healthcare system, nations can and should learn from those around them. The more we look to international best practices, the quicker we will see patient outcomes improve.

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