Prof Anthony Costello delivered the 2018 Annual David Sanders lecture

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

Prof Anthony Costello delivered the 2018 Annual David Sanders lecture entitled “The Social Edge: The Power of sympathy groups for health and sustainable development”. (Download SLIDES or watch LECTURE)

Dr Costello discussed the concept of ‘sympathy groups’ (a gathering of around 15 or so people who share a common interest, and who meet to face a challenge)’, and 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. 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.