Martin McKee: the Importance of Politics in shaping our health
Giving Health a Voice
European Public Health Alliance
5.0 • 1 Ratings
🗓️ 14 June 2023
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Milka is joined by Martin McKee – professor, researcher, and top European public health expert. Best known for his research on the health effects of the collapse of the Soviet bloc, European law and health policy, Martin has published over 1,000 papers in peer-reviewed journals, with his contributions highly valued and globally recognised.
As a society, we need to recognize that every political decision and law impacts our health, whether directly or indirectly. Martin therefore stresses the need for fundamental changes to political and economic systems, and the role that public health professionals and advocates can play in bringing about this change.
Giving Health a Voice is the podcast of the European Public Health Alliance, bringing public health to the fore and discussing the most pressing issues with experts in the field. It will speak to both those with a stake in health and those whose health is at stake.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today we are joined by Martin McKee, professor, researcher and top European public health expert. |
| 0:08.0 | Best known for his research on the health effects of the collapse of the Soviet bloc, |
| 0:13.0 | European law and health policy, Martin has published over 1,000 papers in peer-reviewed journals, |
| 0:19.0 | with his contributions highly valued and globally recognized. |
| 0:23.6 | He was and still is a member of numerous advisory boards in Europe and North America, |
| 0:28.6 | and is a former president of the European Public Health Association, UFA. |
| 0:33.6 | In this episode, we will talk about the current state of global health and the need to address gaps and inequalities, specifically touching upon the social, political and commercial determinants of health. |
| 0:48.4 | Hi, I'm Milka Sokolovich, scientist by background and advocate at heart. |
| 0:59.0 | I'm delighted to be your host for this episode of Giving Health a Voice. |
| 1:07.0 | First of all, thank you for joining us today. Let me start by asking you, Martin, what state do you think the public health community |
| 1:13.4 | is currently? What are the main areas where we are collectively succeeding and where are things |
| 1:20.9 | much less certain? I'd like to begin with a global perspective. And first point is that, of course, we now know much more about the health of the world than we ever did before. |
| 1:32.9 | And here I think we need to acknowledge the major contribution made by the team at the University of Washington in the Global Burden of Disease Project. |
| 1:42.4 | For much of the 20th century, we were living in what Alan Lopez described as a scandal |
| 1:48.2 | of ignorance in which so many people were born, lived and died, and nobody ever recorded |
| 1:53.6 | their existence. |
| 1:54.9 | So at least we now do know much more about the health of the world's population. |
| 2:03.8 | And what that tells us is that in the post-war period, we've seen sustained improvements. In some countries, it's been really very dramatic. |
| 2:09.5 | We've seen a country like Japan, for example, life expectancy, improving very markedly in the late |
| 2:16.4 | 1940s, 1950s, 1960s to become one of the highest in the world. |
| 2:21.8 | That was up until about 2010. |
| 2:25.6 | Then we've had problems. |
... |
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