2018 David Sanders Lecture – Prof Anthony Costello

Prof Anthony Costello delivered the 2018 Annual David Sanders lecture entitled "The Social Edge: The Power of sympathy groups for health and sustainable development".

Dr Costello discussed the concept of ‘sympathy groups’ , and his multi-disciplinary research into how social capital is built and what this offers for addressing contemporary challenges in health and development.  For 20 years, he led large studies on the health effects of women’s groups in Asia and Africa, finding that functional sympathy groups cut down dramatically on maternal and newborn deaths – even in areas where health services were rudimentary. Defining ‘sympathy groups’ as a gathering of around 15 people who share a common interest and who meet to face a challenge, he described his multi-disciplinary research into how social capital is built and what this offers for addressing contemporary challenges in health and development.

Dr Anthony Costello recently stepped down as Director of the Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health at the World Health Organisation in Geneva. Until 2015 he was Professor of International Child Health and Director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London (UCL). He founded an international charity, Women and Children First, which helped mobilise women’s groups across Africa and south Asia. Until 2015 he was Professor of International Child Health and Director of the Institute for Global Health at University College London. He chaired the 2009 Lancet Commission on Managing the Health Effects of Climate Change, and was co-chair of the 2015 Lancet Commission on emergency actions to tackle the climate health crisis; and holds fellowships of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal College of Physicians(UK).