UCL GBSH experts lead global health systems supplement on justice and sustainability

UCL Global Business School for Health (GBSH) researchers are leading a major new special supplement of Health Policy and Planning, developed following the 8th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Nagasaki in November 2024 (HSR2024). The supplement distils learning from the field’s leading global scientific convening, translating diverse country experience into rigorous scholarship on advancing justice and sustainability in health systems.

Professor Kabir Sheikh (GBSH) and Professor Stephanie Topp (James Cook University) are lead editors, with GBSH’sProfessor Neha Batura also part of the editorial team.

Titled Changing Health Systems: Advancing Justice and Sustainability through Research, Policy and Practice, the special supplement was produced in partnership with Health Systems Global and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Drawing on discussions from HSR2024, the collection focuses on how health systems are changing in practice, highlighting examples where progress has been realised and the strategies behind it. Featuring contributions from ten countries, it examines responses to urbanisation, decentralisation, economic shocks and sanctions, climate instability, and the growing role of digital and community-led innovation. 

The supplement also captures key debates on justice and sustainability in health systems and will be showcased again during a dedicated session at HSR2026 in Cairo.

Professor Kabir Sheikh said: 
”This supplement brings together learning from the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research and translates it into rigorous, policy-relevant scholarship on how health systems are changing across diverse contexts. As the new UCL Centre for Global Health Systems and Policy launches with a focus on these transformations, it will serve as a key reference point for scholars, policymakers and practitioners navigating them.”

Read the supplement: here