Medical community unites against urgent global health threats

Coda is a global community of medical professionals dedicated to generating, proving and sharing revolutionary healthcare ideas for societal change. Founded by intensive care specialists Oliver Flower and Roger Harris from Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital, the organisation strives to make meaningful change on global health issues.

The first ever Coda conference will be held in Melbourne from 28 September–2 October, uniting the entire healthcare community unbound by critical care. Coda 2020 will enthuse healthcare professionals in Australia to take action across four domains: Earth, Ethics, Cure and Education.

Each year, Coda will identify a specific and urgent threat to global health and deliver a draft set of tangible, achievable and sustainable actions for the community to build upon prior to the major event, with final action plans presented at the Coda conference for rapid adoption.

Published via academic journals and disseminated across the community, these actions will be open for industry-wide comment, engagement and discussion via social platforms. In 2020, Coda will focus on an action agenda for climate change.

In a call to arms, Roger Harris said, “There are 60 million healthcare workers around the world, and as an industry we’re leaders in society — the people who the public trust with their health, wellbeing and their lives.

“Imagine if this community could come together as one to make positive and actionable change on global health crisis. We as a medical community can change humanity’s global footprint. We have the power to inspire, revitalise and provide hope for the future.”

Connecting this to how Coda 2020 will have an impact, Oliver Flower said, “Coda was created to accelerate progress toward better health outcomes for all. We exist to create a healthier world together; however, to make real changes we need fast action, not just talk.

“We will use Coda 2020 as a launchpad to mobilise our local and global communities — it will be the benchmark for real change.”

Coda 2020 will provide a hub for the medical profession to come together to accelerate change, be empowered and make a real impact on local and global health issues. Over an intensive five days, beginning with 40 CPD workshops, more than 50 expert speakers from across the globe will connect across four central domains at Coda 2020:

• Coda Earth: Threats to humanity from climate change, water and food shortages, and air pollution.
• Coda Cure: Threats include sepsis, pandemics, trauma and communicable disease.
• Coda Educate: Threats include equitable access to learning, knowledge dissemination, harms of medical misinformation (particularly on vaccine hesitancy) and antibiotic resistance.
• Coda Ethics: Threats include equity within health care itself, artificial intelligence, end-of-life care, population and genetic modification.
   

Registrations open on 1 April 2020.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/kalafoto