Can Scotland lead the way in reducing health inequalities by realising human rights?

Summary review of the ALLIANCE Digital Gathering 2023.

During the 2023 Digital Gathering, participants attended from across Scotland and the UK to discuss topics exploring health inequalities and human rights. Across the two days, nearly 300 people joined the six sessions, with a mix of keynote speakers and interactive workshops.

On day one we explored health inequalities, with the first session on ‘Digital Inclusion’ hearing from leading experts in digital health. Session two ‘Health Inequalities – keeping young people at the centre’, focused on The Health Foundation report: Leave no one behind, and the highlighted key risks to the future health of Scotland include the health prospects of infants and young children. To end the day off, changemaker Hilary Cottam delivered a keynote address to share her views on transformational change in her talk on radical health.

Day two focused on issues of human rights, starting off with a Human rights back to basics workshop where we were joined by contributors across the third sector to discuss their experience with working alongside human rights in practice. The second session launched a new research report ‘the Opportunity is Now’ that looks at where we’ve been and the journey ahead for human rights in Scotland. Our final session of the day was a presentation and Q and A with academic Dr Gwenetta Curry who explored the role of racism and poor health outcomes among racial inequalities.

Things people took away from the event (quotes): 

• “Radical change is possible and a focus on person centred need is critical”.  

• “The power of collaboration”.  

• “My team have been looking at digital inclusion in rural areas, some great ideas on how this could work.” 

• “The importance of setting and trust to engage with young people, and the importance of consulting with service users on an ongoing basis.” 
  

Live tweets from the two days:

• Health Inequalities – keeping young people at the centre: Colette Mason shares “it is really important that we adapt to the needs of the community that we work with” 

• Radical Health – Hilary Cottam: Hilary talks about new approaches to health care: “we need to fund and support new cultures to spread… we have to think of systems that take care of everyone…we can tell a new story…start outside the system where people are”. 

• Human Rights, Back to Basics workshop: Lydia Murphy from The Poverty Alliance: “We believe that the existence of poverty breaches basic human rights” 

• Disproportionate Harms – Gwenetta Curry: Question: “Should people take personal action?” Reply: “Everyone has a role to play, sometimes people can shy away from ‘sensitive’ topics. There is value in both person and training within this context”. 

You can watch the full highlight recap video below.

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