Global Health

Global Health and the ESDR

Global health is that area of study, research and practice which places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide. It is usually taken to mean improving the health of people in least developed countries (LDCs) of the world where resources are poor and diseases – particularly neglected tropical diseases – are common.

The burden of skin disease worldwide is immense and healthcare systems are often poorly equipped to deal with it. To improve access to skincare in LDCs and thus enhance clinical care is dependent on high quality education and research.

The ESDR has a responsibility to educate and train the next generation of skin researchers and to promote the highest quality skin research. The expertise that resides within the ESDR community is immense from skin research centres to individuals. This expertise could and should be put to use beyond the geographic confines of Europe to train skin scientists (both clinical and non-clinical) from LDCs and to collaborate with dermatologists and scientists from these countries to help address local unmet needs in understanding and managing skin disease. This can be accomplished in several ways. For instance the ESDR funds Fellowships to enable young dermatologists and skin scientists from LDCs to travel to the Annual Meeting of the ESDR – as was demonstrated so successfully by the funding of four Fellows, from Myanmar (2), Kenya and Ethiopia to attend the 49th Meeting of the ESDR in Bordeaux 2019.

We are actively exploring ways by which the global heath research agenda can be progressed by the Society.

Chris Griffiths
ESDR President 2019-2020