Brexit: Self harm or a shot in the arm?

At the recent Global Health Exchange: Improving Global Learning conference in Manchester, Ben Simms, THET’s CEO, gave a stirring keynote speech on the need to go beyond media headlines and act together to promote both a stronger NHS and a fortified global health environment.

Joining speakers and delegates from across the UK and international health sector, from Public Health England, Royal Colleges and NHS overseas volunteers, the day was a fantastic moment in the health partnership movement reflecting the vital energy the Global Health Exchange is bringing to the global health and development space. This blog reflects on the key points of Ben’s speech.

The Choice

I believe we now face a fundamental choice as a country. Whether we are to be “a kind and generous” country, as Theresa May phrased it in her speech to staff at the Department for International development last week; open to the world, mindful of our mutual dependence. Or whether we are to be an insular country, holding our sovereignty close to our chest, suspiciously eyeing our neighbours, both near and far.

Nowhere is this choice more clearly expressed than in the debate around the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI on overseas aid.

The UK is now one of just six wealthier countries to be meeting this long-standing UN target. In 2015, the UK provided a total of £12.13 billion in overseas aid. This coming Wednesday, the UK will announce that our contribution increased by an additional £1 billion in 2016. And next week, the OECD will publish their global comparison figures, which will show that the UK has seen the largest increase in overseas aid spending the world over.

It is a profound and impressive contribution. It is both kind and generous.

The Chicken

This 0.7% investment is of course, underpinned by a searing logic, which speaks of our national interest. If a chicken sneezed thirty years ago, so the joke goes, it would have been bad news for the chicken and its relatives, but nobody else would have taken much notice. Today, our increased understanding that human, animal and ecosystem health are inextricably linked combined with our ease of travel, means that such a sneeze will be heard in every capital of the world.

Ebola is often cited as the wake-up call which taught us that the health of one country is dependent on the health of another. Arguably, it’s not the first wake-up call. HIV and AIDS was such a call, as the 33 million people who died from AIDS-related illnesses can testify. Hopefully, Ebola will be the last such call:

The world is awake. It is time to put together a new landscape that will deliver universal health coverage to all its citizens. And UK overseas aid has a crucial role to play in this. It is in our national interest.

The Media

However logical this sounds, it cannot be taken for granted. The 0.7% commitment is under unprecedented attack. Just in January, the Mail on Sunday persisted in its campaign for overseas aid to be re-directed to support the NHS. And it’s not just the Mail. It’s The Times and the Express. In fact, it’s many of the papers that campaigned vigorously for Brexit.

For THET, the choice the Daily Mail gives is one that speaks very poignantly to our vision of a world where everyone has access to healthcare. The decision between investing in ODA or the NHS, is not an either or, they can and should go hand in hand.

The Future

We need to fight for an internationally-focused NHS. At the heart of this is the challenge of ensuring that, as we learn to identify the benefits we can derive from an internationally-minded NHS, to too we must think carefully about how these align with the benefit derived from host countries.

All this means asking and answering difficult questions: not just around how we balance the interests of the NHS with those of overseas health services. But how, for example, we transition from aid dependency to grasping the opportunities for commercial activity overseas which could produce valuable income for the NHS.

To travel on this journey involves making a choice. The choice I talked about at the beginning: about what country we want to be a part of.

Theresa May’s speech last week set the standard by which we can now judge our government’s promises, exemplified by our commitment to spend 0.7% of our national income on overseas aid.

We too need to express this choice, individually and organisationally, to grapple with this complexity to produce an outward facing NHS, one that brings benefit both to countries overseas and to its own patients. In Our Mutual Interest.

Ben Simms

CEO,

THET

Maximising the potential for further funding in Mozambique.

We asked Sarah Cavanagh, Pharmacist and Peter Donaldson, Consultant Surgeon, to reflect on what they did to increase the chances of their project lasting beyond Health Partnership Scheme funding; by forging links with the Rotary Club they have secured potential funding for the future. Their project aims to develop patient safety programmes at the Central Hospital of Beira, Mozambique.

Tell us more about how you started to engage with the Rotary Club and where you are at now.

We began to engage with the Rotary club fairly early on in our partnership. We attended the 2014 THET conference which provided inspiration in the form of a workshop that covered fundraising strategies, as well as local stakeholder engagement. 

What was the issue?

The main issue was that our partnership did not have a very high profile locally, either within our hospital or in our local community. We also had no certainty that we would secure funding after the project end which is set for February 2017.

Who said or did what, and when?
We presented to Ipswich-Orwell Rotary Club in December 2014, October 2015, July and September 2016. In October 2015 we also presented to Woodbridge Rotary Club. In March 2016 we were invited to attend a drinks reception with local business leaders and our local MP and former Health Secretary, Ben Gummer, who has over many years been very supportive of both Ipswich Hospital and The Rotary Club. We also met with MP Ben Gummer separately, in his constituency office.

Ipswich-Orwell Rotary Club greet Health Professionals from Mozambique

Photograph taken by Eleanor Bull in Ipswich Hospital, April 2016.

What were the immediate reactions and results? What challenges did you face?

Immediately our profile was raised because we had spoken to these influential people. We also had increased press coverage, specifically in The East Anglian Daily Times and the Ipswich Star, through a Rotary-Orwell contact.

We did face some challenges however, as the vision to involve the Rotary Club and seek wider support, as well as additional funding was not universally shared within the team. This led to some debate and delay, but eventually it was seen to be a good idea for the future of the partnership.

What were the longer-term results?

After presenting twice, and without asking for any money, Rotary-Orwell asked whether they could support us financially. They organised a fundraising event in July 2016 and prior to that held a raffle; the two events raised over £700 for the project! As the July fundraising event (Rotary Mastermind Competition) was held in collaboration with the other three Ipswich Rotary Clubs, it has led to friendly contact with these clubs as well as Ipswich-Orwell. The partnership’s involvement has also helped raise awareness of the great work of the Rotary Club and Rotary International.

Sarah Cavanagh presenting the Rotary Ipswich-Orwell banner to Dr Wingi Olivier in Beira 2016

Photograph taken by Eleanor Bull in Ipswich Hospital, April 2016.

Have you solved the problem of sustainability? What will you do next?

We feel that we have to a certain extent solved this problem. There is a much greater understanding and awareness of our partnership both within our hospital and our community, and we have established good links with five of the local Rotary Clubs. After our next visit, in November 2016, we will have a clearer idea of the next steps with the partnership. We will be maintaining our established links with Rotary, with a view to maintaining or even increasing their involvement in the future.

What have you learnt, and what advice could you give to other partnerships?

One of the most important lessons we learned was that asking for money straight away is not necessarily the best way to maximise fundraising, neither is it the best way to forge longer term relationships with potential funders and local opinion leaders. These things take time and it is important to nurture the relationships.

Orwell Rotary Club presenting a cheque for £703 to our partnership in September 2016 for medical and maintenance equipment for Beira Hospital.

Photograph taken by David Vincent, 2016.

Rotary Club and Rotary International consist of 1.2 million neighbours, friends, and community leaders who come together to create positive, lasting change in local communities and around the world. Differing occupations, cultures, and countries give Rotary a unique perspective. Rotary support a variety of causes both at home and abroad. They are specifically identified and targeted to maximize local and global impact. Rotary uses its network of resources and partners to focus service efforts in promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education, and growing local economies. As such this ethos ties in very nicely with Health Partnerships.

If you would like more information on the work of the Rotary Club and  Rotary International, please visit https://www.rotary.org/en/about-rotary