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At the Uppsala Health Summit 2023, we learned that the triple crisis is a reality, we have enough knowledge to make a change, it is time to act now, and we need a strategy to reduce chemical pollution. The moderator for this year’s summit, Robert Watt, Engagement Director at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), provides us with a concluding summary of his key take-aways from the summit.

The closing dialogue at Uppsala Health Summit 2023: Chemical Pollution and One Health highlighted key messages on a critical shift from reactivity to proactivity. Dr. Laura N. Vandenberg, Dr. Isaac Olufadewa, Ambassador Luis Vayas, John Tumpane, and Dr. Kateřina Šebková shared compelling perspectives on outreach, science-policy interfaces, and the vital role of leadership in driving change.

The pharmaceutical company Läkemedelsindustriföreningen (Lif) is one of Uppsala Health Summit’s sponsors in 2023. Lif is the Swedish Association of the Research-Based Pharmaceutical Industry with about 90 members and associate partners. In this interview, Bengt Mattson, Policy expert at Lif, introduces us to the pharmaceutical industry’s sustainable manifesto for sustainable health and reminds us of international partnerships role in advancing the industry’s sustainability efforts.

Access to water is essential for all life. For good health and a healthy environment, clean water is fundamental, but unfortunately we find unwanted chemical substances in rivers, lakes, and even tap water. Professor Karin Wiberg has spent many years deepening our understanding of chemicals in the environment. Together with colleagues, Wiberg is now leading a workshop at Uppsala Health Summit 2023 to raise awareness of the problem and to work together to reduce the presence of harmful chemicals in the environment.

Why are metabolic diseases increasing? One factor is the endocrine-disrupting chemicals called Obesogens, which are silently infiltrating our lives through bioaccumulation in our foods and omnipresence in our packaging. We interview Dr. Carlos Guerrero Bosagna, who is an Associate Professor at the Department of Organismal Biology, Physiology, and Environmental Toxicology at Uppsala University. Dr. Guerrero Bosagna is organizing a workshop during the upcoming summit called “Metabolic Diseases: from Chemical Exposure to Interventions”, and he offers insights to bridge the gap between genetics, nutrition, and physical activity in the fight against metabolic diseases. 

Investments in the impact of climate change on pollution are needed to achieve a chemical-safe future, and we need new research with a one-health approach and strengthen our science-to-policy mechanisms to fight chemical pollution, according to John Tumpane, Head of the Department of Environment at Formas, one of Uppsala Health Summit 2023’s sponsors.

At our upcoming summit on Chemical Pollution and One Health, we will gather the expertise, insights and visions of all participants to discuss how we can more proactively address the issue of harmful chemicals and waste. In this interview, Senior Professor Åke Bergman från Örebro University and Stockholm University tells us a bit about the background to the topic and also about the workshop he is organizing to support the establishment of a inter-governmental science-policy panel that will help decision-makers take the right action.

In one of the workshops at the Chemical Pollution and One Health Summit we will explore how to better assess the risks within the feed/food chain. The participants will discuss ways to make risk analysis more effective and how to improve the way we communicate about these risks. We had the chance to talk to Dr. Gunnar Andersson, who is organizing the workshop together with colleagues from the Swedish Veterinary Institute. In this interview Gunnar shares his thoughts on the workshop topic.

The issue of pharmaceuticals in the environment is gaining more attention around the world. What actions are necessary to tackling these challenges? Where does the accountability lie? These questions are the theme of the workshop Conflicting Objectives – Using Effective Drugs without Polluting the Environment at Uppsala Health Summit in October. 

Krister Halldin, Assessor at the Swedish Medical Products Agency is organizing the workshop together with colleagues from the Uppsala healthcare administration Region Uppsala. We asked Krister some questions on the topic and what his expectations are for the summit.

We are excited to present our programme committee chair for this year’s summit, Professor Joëlle Rüegg. In this interview, Joëlle introduces us to her work and shares her perspective on the challenges around chemical pollution and its health outcomes.

In this interview, the workshop leader of Food Planning for Sustainable Consumption Fredrik Fernqvist tells us about his and his workshop colleagues’ common interest in the role of food in our landscape, and inspiring reflections on the role of food planning in securing sustainable food consumption and relevant areas.

Uppsala Health Summit is a collaborative effort, initiated by a partnership of actors  who believe in the power of open dialogues to address some of today’s global health challenges. We are excited to share that Örebro University has become our new partner this year! The Vice-chancellor of Örebro University, Johan Schnürer, shared some reflections about this new partnership and expectations for the summit;

In this interview, Uppsala Health Summit meets Alicja Wolk who is a professor of Nutritional Epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet. First, Alicja tells us about her extensive research background focused on diet and other modifiable lifestyle factors related to chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, age-related cataracts, and healthy ageing;

In this interview, we meet Assem Abu Hatab, associate professor at the Department of Economics of SLU and senior development economist at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI). Assem coordinates the workshop Zero Hunger: Is Smallholder Farming the Solution, one of the workshops presented at the upcoming summit in October. 

At the upcoming Uppsala Health Summit on food systems, Marmar leads the workshop Reducing Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) for Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems. This interview with Marmar tells us about her reflection on the public health issues surrounding unsustainable food systems, critical changes that need to be made, and inspiring reflections based on her past experiences. 

Johanna Lindahl, scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), leads the workshop Food Safety versus Food Security, part of the Uppsala Health Summit 2022. In this interview, we learn about Johanna’s ‘aha’ moment in research and her reflections on this year’s summit theme. Uppsala Health Summit 2022 provided a unique opportunity for Johanna and her workshop colleagues to collaborate.

We have interviewed Ylva Persson, the assistant state veterinarian in ruminant diseases at the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) and associate professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) In this interview, Ylva shares her reflections on the importance of sustainable livestock production in light of emerging civil crises and the importance of flexibility and adaptability to achieve sustainable food production, promoting human and animal health.

Professor Stefan Swartling Peterson is our recently elected chairman of the Uppsala Health Summit’s Advisory Board. In this interview, Professor Swartling introduces us to his work and shares his reflections about global food systems and their impact on our health.

In this interview, our programme committee chair for this year’s summit, Professor Karin Artursson, introduces us to her work and research and shares her perspective on the critical need for equitable and sustainable food systems.

In this interview, the chair of our programme committee for the next summit; Professor Karin Brocki introduces us to her research, shares an Aha! moment from her studies and gives her perspectives on the rise in mental health issues. 

What to bear in mind when developing guidelines and communication activities for children’s farm visits and other situations when children interact with animals? This is what the workshop Children and the Wild: Potential Benefits and Perils in Human-Animal Encounters at Uppsala Health Summit will discuss. We asked Tanja Strand, Researcher at National Veterinary Institute in Sweden to tell us more.

Tackling the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance will depend on the interests and competence of future generations, and schools play an important role. But it is a complex issue that many teachers find difficult to teach.

In this interview, Senior lecturers in Education at Uppsala University Eva Lundqvist and Malena Lidar explain why and how the curriuculum can be organized to better meet the needs of teachers and students. Eva and Malena are organizing a workshop on the theme at Uppsala Health Summit workshop: Teaching AMR, Schools as Change Agents.

When thinking about the behaviours that must change to preserve our antibiotics, we may primarily think about our actions as patients, health-care workers, patients, farmers and consumers. But the “behaviours” –  or rather norms and praxis – of the actors in the manufacturing and supply chain of antibiotics are also extremely important.

Professor Enrico Baraldi from the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering at Uppsala University is leading the preparations for a workshop on this theme. We caught up with him to learn more.

In Uppsala there are two leading academic institutions with internationally competitive research: Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The activities of the two universities, along with our other Uppsala-based, not-for-profit partners behind Uppsala Health Summit, have created a hub for multi-disciplinary research, practice and advocacy on antimicrobial resistance.

Roger Madelin has a long career in urban development. In 2016 he was appointed to lead the development of British Land’s 46-acre Canada Water site in London, which will feature two million sq ft of workspace, 3,500 homes and one million sq ft of retail and leisure. Before joining British Land Madelin was at the firm Argent, where he was instrumental in the redevelopment of King’s Cross in London – a redevelopment project widely recognised as a success in terms of good place-making. We spoke with Mr. Madelin about the need for designing urban spaces for children and how to involve children in the design process.

Dr Mariana Brussoni will speak on achieving a balanced risk perception in childhood and adolescence at the upcoming Summit. She is a developmental child psychologist who has investigated child injury prevention and children’s outdoor play for 15 years. Dr. Brussoni and her team at the University of British Columbia has recently developed an online tool to encourage parents to allow children to take part in “risky” outdoor play. We spoke to Dr. Brussoni about the tool and kids need for risk and excitement in their play.

Dr. Nyberg and her colleagues are organizing a workshop at Uppsala Health Summit on how industry and academic researchers can collaborate around the development of products and services that promote healthy brain functions in children through physical exercise.

It has been a busy year for Dr. Bull and her team following the High-Level Meeting in the UN General Assembly in 2018 where world leaders committed to bold actions to reduce NCD’s through a global action plan. To help countries progress, WHO is now updating and developing new guidelines for physical exercise across the lifespan. Why is this revision necessary?

Urban planner Dr. Mara Mintzer, University of Colorado, will participate as inspirational speaker in the workshop Listen to the Kids at Uppsala Health Summit in October. Her presentation at TEDxMileHigh from November 2017 is a good source of inspiration for our summit! 

Children’s experiences and viewpoints have proven to be a valuable resource for urban planners tasked with creating sustainable environments in different parts of the world.

But just talking to children is not enough; we must take care to really listen and be mindful about how, when and for which purposes they are involved.

Listen to the kids! is the title of one of the workshops at Uppsala Health Summit in October, prepared by Dr. Kerstin Nordin, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in collaboration with Dr. Maria Nordström, Associate professor in environmental psychology, both at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. In this interview Dr. Kerstin Nordin discusses how children’s voices can be an important input to urban planning.

We are pleased to announce that Uppsala Health Summit can offer a limited number of scholarships that cover travel, accommodation and Summit fees, for media and for delegates representing youth organisations anywhere in the world, and for delegates representing expertise, policy making or opinion building in low- and middle-income countries.

Meet Dr. Alex Riolexus Ario at Uganda National Institute of Public Health

In 2017 the focus at Uppsala Health Summit was on infectious diseases and how risks be reduced through greater collaboration between animal and human health practitioners under the umbrella of One Health.

In this interview, one of the delegates, Dr. Alex Riolexus Ario of The Uganda National Institute of Public Health reflects on the progress of the One Health approach in his country and on how Uppsala Health Summit helped them to takes steps towards where they are today. 

Conclusions from the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Study Number Four (SPCG-4), published in New England Journal of Medicine in December 2018, show that men with clinically detected prostate cancer can benefit from radical prostatectomy. The study is a strong indication of the value for cancer research of complete, long-term follow-up data and high study-adherance. The value of clinical data and patient registries to the development of cancer care was strongly advocated for at Uppsala Health Summit, “Care for Cancer”, in June 2018.

We are proud to be partially owned by, and also host Uppsala Health Summit in a town that has been awarded not one, but five (!) prestigious awards related to sustainable city futures in the past year.

Despite all evidence-based solutions and commitments to combat Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD's) progress has been slow and uneven globally. Last summer, the World Health Organization’s Independent High-level Commission on NCDs released the report Time to Deliver. 

Our Summit Care for Cancer, which was held in June, was a response to the growing opportunities to treat for cure or improved survival and the paradox of unequal access. Discussions focused on how to open up opportunities for a growing number of patients by making better use of data and technologies, and how such use can pave way for a more equitable access to the best possible treatment and diagnostics within any given context. You can now access all plenum presentations on our website.

By 2050 around 70 % of the world’s population will live in cities. The majority of these urban residents will be children. How can we plan, develop and build our cities in a way that their mental and physical health is promoted and protected? This is the challenge Uppsala Health Summit will address in 2019. Should you be part of the discussions? Make sure to mark the dates in your calendar, and pre-register your interest for a personal invitation.

All over the world, the number of new cancer cases increases at a pace which will pose enormous strains on all healthcare systems if we continue to ignore the warning signals. Even with one third of all cancer cases being traceable to lifestyle factors, we can no longer rely on prevention measures to tackle the growing cancer burden in the world.

With this insight as starting point for the dialogue, decision makers, experts and opinion builders gathered for a summit at Uppsala Castle in June to discuss how we can open up the medical advancements in cancer care to reach more patients globally. 225 delegates from 33 countries and four continents participated in two days of constructive dialogue.

The program committee, with inputs from delegates, drafted a summary of the discussions. The conclusions are now available on our web.  Read and share, discuss which steps your organisation can take, within your own fields of activity and in collaboration with other actors.

During his keynote at Uppsala Health Summit in June, Professor Max Parkin announced the up-coming release of the latest version of the global cancer report, Globocan 2018. The report, with a set of tools to compare and visualise data, is now available on internet.

At Uppsala Health Summit Care for Cancer meeting next week, Dr Lars Lööf, Senior Professor at Uppsala University and member of the New Therapies Council in Sweden, hopes to stimulate a discussion around the true clinical value and price-setting for new cancer drugs. In this interview, Dr. Lööf explains why this discussion is needed.

Dr Mariângela Simão, Assistant Director-General for Medicines Access,Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals at the World Health Organization (WHO) will deliver a keynote address at Uppsala Health Summit in June. We caught up with Dr. Simão to ask for her perspective on the big questions around cancer care that the world is currently grappling with.

Thomas Cueni, DG of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) will speak at Uppsala Health Summit, Care for Cancer in a plenary session on access to treatments and diagnostics. In this interview, Thomas elaborates on some of the tough questions that the summit will address.

The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation is a partner of Uppsala Health Summit 2018. In this interview, the organization´s Head of Research, Dr Kerstin Sollerbrant tells us about the key care issues affecting children with cancer and their families.