This week has seen LSTM play host to the 4thAnnual Health in Humanitarian Settings: Research Symposium. Students and staff from a number educational and research institutions, along with a variety of participants from many different NGOs came together to debate the challenges of delivering effective healthcare in humanitarian settings.
The symposium was a forum for original research, with papers being delivered around four central themes: The Challenges and Practicalities of Humanitarian Aid; Children in Humanitarian / Development Settings; Infectious and Neglected Tropical Diseases and Working in Conflict Zones. Each of the sessions will be chaired by an expert in the field, and there was a keynote speech from Lorenzo Savioli, recently appointed as a Senior Professorial Fellow at LSTM, following his retirement as head of Neglected Tropical Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO).
Along with the oral presentations there was an opportunity to view a number of poster presentations, which along with the oral presentations, were judged by a panel of experts. Awards were presented at the end of the afternoon to Trudy Okello for her poster presentation: The utilisation of anti natal and post natal healthcare amongst urban refugees living in Kampala (Uganda). There was a joint prize for oral presentations, going to Orla Shannon for her presentation: Paediatric disability in Malawi: Exploring information and advice needs at a community level, and to Dr Misha Gray for his presentation: The impact of child detention under occupation: A case study of Silwan, East Jerusalem.
Following the event at LSTM, many of those involved took part in an evening event nearby which included discussions on the role of celebrity in humanitarian aid and the role of photojournalism, accompanied by a humanitarian photographic exhibition
The symposium organiser, Megan Evans, a fifth year medical student at the University of Liverpool and a recent graduate from LSTM, was delighted with the event: “This, our 4th annual symposium has been a great success, with an audience which was really engaged throughout the day. The paper presentations sparked some very interesting and informative debate, and the poster presentations as always were all of a very high standard. Myself and the other organisers where really pleased with the turn out and I hope that those in the audience during the day, as well as those who were able to join us for our evening event, found it as informative and enjoyable as we did.”