Oxford Health Alliance
The Oxford Health Alliance (OxHA), launched in 2003 by Novo Nordisk and the University of Oxford, was formed to rally innovative action around preventing and reducing the global impact of chronic disease. According to WHO, chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, lung disease and some cancers account for 60% of deaths globally and are linked to three risk factors – tobacco use, lack of physical activity and poor diet. The epidemic of chronic disease is accelerating at an alarming rate, despite growing awareness of the risk factors.
OxHA Annual Summit
The OxHA Annual Summit 2006 was held in Cape Town on 20–22 November. The summit was co-hosted with the Medical Research Council of South Africa and the University of Cape Town, and was attended by more than 100 high-level representatives from the worlds of business, academia and public policy as well as veterans of the anti-tobacco campaigns, economists, nurses, urban planners and youth organisations. More than 20 countries from Africa, North and South America, Asia Pacific and Europe were represented. Almost 1200 people participated online within OxHA’s new online global health community.
The overall theme of the 2006 summit was ‘Health in transition: working together’.
It built on the progress made at the three previous OxHA meetings, particularly the ‘transition to action’ that was launched at Yale University in 2005 – continuing to strengthen the evidence base while also working actively to combat the epidemic of chronic disease.
Millions of premature deaths could be prevented worldwide over the next decade by addressing the three risk factors. With this aim, the OxHA summit concentrated on four specific workstreams and produced a number of goals to be achieved by next year’s summit in Sydney. Read more about the workstreams here.
EU youth summit
In October an Oxford Health Alliance EU youth summit was held in Brussels at a senate-style event hosted by John Bowis, MEP, and the Oxford Health Alliance. A group of young people from across Europe were given the opportunity to challenge the EU Parliament, Commission and Presidency on health policy. The youth participants in the event represented a number of organisations that have an active interest in health issues, including the European Youth Parliament, the Novo Nordisk Youth Panel and TakingITGlobal, an online community that brings young people together to find inspiration, access information, get involved, and take action in their local and global communities.
The outcomes of the meeting will contribute to the Youth Lifestyle League being developed by the OxHA Youth workstream. The aim of this effort is to gather the views of young people from across the globe on how to best lead a healthy lifestyle reflecting the rich variety of views and cultural perspectives. The results will be used and views collated to assist stakeholders in future health promotion campaigns targeted at young people. The Brussels summit is suggested as a template for youth organisations and young people participating in the Youth Lifestyle League to engage national, regional and local government on chronic disease prevention and other health issues.
About OxHA
Raising awareness, changing behaviour and reorienting health systems to meet the challenge of chronic disease prevention is a huge undertaking that involves diverse stakeholders throughout society. The Oxford Health Alliance enables experts and activists from different backgrounds to collaborate to raise awareness and change behaviours, policies and perspectives at every level of society.
In 2004 Novo Nordisk, which is represented on the OxHA Board of Trustees, committed 3 million British pounds over three years to support the initiative. OxHA is an independent UK charity.
The OxHA secretariat is located in London. The Alliance numbers more than 200 participants, including representatives from government, public health agencies, universities, corporations, non-governmental organisations such as the World Heart Federation, international organisations such as the World Bank and the World Health Organization, patients' rights advocates, doctors and nurses. The Alliance convenes at annual summits to move action for prevention forward.
OxHA has focused its work on five key areas: the economic argument for prevention of chronic disease; prevention in the workplace; youth, children and future health; environmental design for prevention (eg urban planning, building design); and industry’s role in chronic disease prevention.
Among the other initiatives of the Oxford Health Alliance are CAPCoD (Community Action to Prevent Chronic Disease), a programme designed to bring together chronic disease researchers from both the developed and the developing worlds to work together in piloting research programmes for chronic disease prevention, and the Grand Challenges in Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases, which employs a modified Delphi method to identify critical barriers that, if removed, would help to solve a critical problem in chronic disease prevention.
Why Novo Nordisk is involved
There are several reasons why it makes sense for Novo Nordisk to engage with the Oxford Health Alliance:
- Business goals: it increases awareness of diabetes (as well as other chronic diseases) and moves it higher up the public agenda, which will inevitably lead to more and better diabetes treatment, and hopefully increased use of Novo Nordisk's products.
- Company Vision: the company Vision is to defeat diabetes. This is only possible if the world finds better ways of preventing diabetes. OxHA addresses this directly.
- Partnership: Novo Nordisk recognises that it cannot defeat diabetes on its own and that, in fact, no single entity can accomplish that goal. Only by pooling resources and thinking will it be possible to identify and implement solutions that will have an impact. OxHA is a forum created to promote the broad multi-stakeholder coalition required to reach this goal.
- Stakeholder engagement: Novo Nordisk recognises that part of its success as a company is due to the dialogue and relations that the company has with people, who in one way or another shape public policy and opinion. Through OxHA, Novo Nordisk can meet with, learn from and create opportunities to work with people who will shape health policy during the next decade.
- Keeping abreast of trends: new ideas emerge when leading thinkers meet. Among these ideas are some that will lead to new ways of thinking about healthcare and the role of industry in healthcare and prevention. Novo Nordisk's involvement with OxHA is part of being among the first to know about new developments.
While a small organisation like the Oxford Health Alliance cannot solve the challenge of chronic disease prevention on its own, Novo Nordisk's experience with the World Diabetes Foundation shows that well-placed investments in stakeholder relations can have a significant impact on very large problems in a way that creates important opportunities and value for the business.
For more information, visit the OxHA’s website.
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