More than 1,000 health professionals, researchers and policymakers, from across Ireland and Northern Ireland and beyond, will gather this week for an all-island public health conference on health inequalities.
The 2023 Joint North South Public Health Conference on Wednesday 29 November will focus on addressing health inequalities on the island of Ireland, under the theme of 'The Health-Wealth Divide: Leaving No One Behind'.
The annual conference takes place online and is organised by the Institute of Public Health, Public Health Agency, Department of Health in Northern Ireland and Ireland, Queen’s University Belfast, Ulster University, University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, University of Galway, University of Limerick, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and HSE Strategy & Research.
The event will hear from international and local experts about the drivers of health inequalities and the wider social, economic, and environmental determinants of health, while also considering how best to promote health and deliver services to those most in need.
Keynote speakers include Professor of Health Equity at the Stretton Institute in Australia, Professor Fran Baum, who will give a presentation on ‘Tackling Health Inequities in an Era of Poly-crises’ and Director of Health Inequalities at NHS England, Professor Bola Owolabi, who will give a keynote on ‘The Business Case for Tackling Health Inequalities’.
The conference will also hear from those working at the coalface of homelessness in Dublin, with opening remarks from Alice Leahy of the Alice Leahy Trust, which provides social and health services to people who are homeless, and a keynote talk on ‘Making Sense of Street Chaos’ from Dr Austin O’Carroll, a Dublin-based GP working with marginalised and homeless communities in the inner city.
It will feature 18 lightning talks and abstract presentations on a wide range of issues, from addressing health inequalities to homelessness services, trauma-informed interventions, and reaching marginalised groups.
Health inequalities are differences in health between different groups of people. They can be caused by social, economic and environmental factors and arise in a variety of ways, such as differences in life expectancy or the prevalence of chronic diseases.
Director of Policy at the Institute of Public Health, Dr Helen McAvoy, who will chair the conference said: “This year’s Joint North South Public Health Conference provides a prime opportunity to consider how we can address health inequalities on the island of Ireland, to assess what is working well, and to consider how we can narrow the health gap.”
For more information about this conference visit https://jointpublichealthconference.org/
