The 20th century has seen impressive gains in health and life expectancy in many parts of the world – but these improvements are unequally distributed. In every country, poor people and those from socially disadvantaged groups get sicker and die sooner than people in more privileged social positions. Not only is there a gap in health between the best-off and the worst-off in society, there is a gradient in health running between them. This gradient can be linked clearly to social and economic conditions. The Commission on Social Determinants of Health was set up by the World Health Organisation to collate global evidence, raise societal debate and recommend policies with the goal of improving the health of the world’s most vulnerable people. This lecture will review the compelling case for action. Lecture given on 27th November 2007.

Lunch Hour Lectures - Audio

Fair Health: Health Inequities Within and Between Countries - A Global Challenge

The Spirit of UCL - Audio

Professor Bebbington explores the idea that psychiatry has an essentially social component because the phenomenon it seeks to explain have inherently social attributes. Psychiatric symptoms relate to our internal experience of external reality, and therefore comprise elements of both the internal and external world. A full account of psychiatric disorder must invoke the interaction of biological and social factors, acknowledging that the balance between these factors will vary between individuals.

Why Psychiatry has to be Social - Audio

Research into ageing has been rejuvenated by the discovery that genetic alterations extend the lifespan of laboratory animals. These mutations keep animals healthy for longer and protect them from many of the diseases of ageing. Professor Partridge will look at how this and other discoveries have led to a new wave of research directed at understanding how these changes can increase healthy lifespan in humans.

The New Biology of Ageing - Audio

The old joke about Brazil is that it is the country of the future, and always will be. There are signs, however, that the Brazilian economy is finally achieving the stability necessary for it to fulfil its potential. What is particularly intriguing is that this has happened under the leadership of Lula, the former print-worker, union leader and founder of the innovative Workers’ Party, who is now in his second term as elected president of Brazil. To what extent is it possible for a radical politician to deliver on commitments to the poor in the context of a global neo-liberal agenda?

The Future of Brazil

UCL Lunch Hour Lectures are open and free to the public and take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Darwin Lecture Theatre, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT. They will resume in Autumn 2008. In the meantime, a number are available below.

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Lunch Hour Lectures - Audio

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