Ted Tao: Representing global youth at WHO high-level meetings

From 9-12 December 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO) organised a Global Meeting with the theme “Accelerate Progress on SDG Target 3.4 on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health” which was hosted by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman in Muscat. Of 550 candidates from around the world, Ted Tao (Tao Xuanchen), a Research Assistant in The George Institute China’s Diabetes Research Program and PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales, emerged as a "WHO Global Youth Delegate" for this conference. Whilst being an excellent opportunity for him to participate and learn, it was also a great honour in him representing the institute.

The main goal of this global meeting was to encourage countries to actively address and tackle chronic Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health disorders by scaling up successful interventions to reduce the rate of premature deaths, thereby achieving Sustainable Development Goal target 3.4 by 2030. The focus of the meeting was to share experiences as well as challenges faced by different countries. Most of the youth delegates were assigned to assist panels related to their fields of research.  This required them to undertake preparatory work and minute-taking during the meeting.

Upon his return from the meeting, Ted accepted an exclusive interview to share his thoughts and recommendations:

Q. How did you get to know about the meeting and apply to participate?

This WHO youth delegate opportunity was originally forwarded to the China and India offices by Emma Feeney in the George Institute UK office. As I felt that the "SMARTDiabetes study", which I am in charge of, is very consistent with the theme of this meeting, I submitted the research abstract on the study with online supplementary materials, as required for the application. In the end, I was successful in being given the opportunity in being selected to participate in the conference.

It would not have been possible for me to be part of the meeting without the "SMARTDiabetes study". This project, jointly supported by the George Institute of Global Health and partners, is a two-year study which aims to utilise mobile health platforms and the family health promoter model to improve the disease management of patients with type II diabetes mellitus and their family members.  The system of care is also aimed at relieving the burden of primary healthcare providers in their everyday work.

"SMARTDiabetes" is a defined as a complex intervention study with a design that targets mobile intervention tools for patients with diabetes mellitus, primary healthcare providers, and policymakers. The intervention involves multiple components of health systems, including Service Delivery, Health Workforce, Health Information System, Health System Financing, as well as Leadership and Governance. Positive results from this study could including showing the program is highly cost-effective, significantly improves the self-management of patients, and reduces their risk of various complications. The project could also potentially play a pivotal role in policymaking of China, as in other countries, to benefit the rapidly increasing numbers of patients with diabetes, and primary healthcare providers and policymakers.

Q. What are the biggest experience and takeaways of your trip?

This is my first time to participate in a high-level WHO meeting. Previously, my impressions of WHO existed only in bibliography. This time, however, being able to participate first-hand in this meeting organised by global health policy leaders was such an invaluable experience.

I have two main takeaways from this meeting.

The first is “Sharing”. At this meeting, WHO invited many countries that have made major improvements in the prevention of non-communicable diseases to give keynote speeches and share their experiences. Since most of the participants were officials who came from the health departments of various countries, these experiences could be openly shared in a direct and effective manner with policymakers from other countries. At the same time, in order to encourage interaction and sharing, WHO also developed a dedicated app especially for this meeting in order to facilitate private discussions and further communication.

The second is "Context is God". This was one of the lines spoken by Professor Brian Oldenburg which left a deep impression on me during the expert panel for which I was responsible for taking minutes. In fact, Professor Oldenburg, from the University of Melbourne, is an old friend of mine. I met him at the Global Alliance for Chronic Disease (GACD) and later participated in a workshop for Implementation Science that he organised.

There is never a “one size fits all” solution to global health problems. An effective intervention method in Area A may not have the same effect in Area B and can even produce the opposite effect at times. During the meeting, a member of the audience gave the example of WHO touting increasing taxes on tobacco as one of the most effective measures (Best Buys) to control smoking. However, in a particular region of ​​Africa, tobacco is divided into two types – factory-made and privately owned (unaffected by taxation). In this case, if the government only increases tobacco taxes without adjusting for other problems on the supply chain, it will only encourage more consumers to buy privately owned tobacco, which will not help in attaining the goal of tobacco control.

Q. As a "Youth Delegate", do you have any advice to share with your peers in the medical circle?

Against the backdrop of global aging and the year on year increase in chronic disease burden, chronic disease management will inevitably face increasing challenges in the future, especially in areas where medical resources are lacking.

However, there are many opportunities behind these challenges such as 5G networks, artificial intelligence (AI), etc. In fact, internet technology has already changed our lifestyle in many ways in terms of clothing (TaoBao), food (Dianping, Ele.me), accommodation (Ctrip) and transport (Didi, bike sharing). But when it comes to innovation and revolution of the medical field, there is no product that is a household name. Hopefully, the young people of our generation can seize the opportunity in this era of technological innovation and work hard to realize Sustainable Development Goal 3.4 as soon as possible.