Sweet Resolution recently interviewed Tommy Hutchinson, the youth program director for the Oxford Health Alliance and director of Equator Media Limited. In these roles, Tommy and colleague Eddie McCaffrey recently created and launched 3four50.com, an open online space for health where everyone is invited to participate. 3four50 stands for 3 risk factors (diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use) which cause four diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung diseases and some cancers) and contribute to 50+% of deaths worldwide. The hope is that 3four50.com will become a space where people can communicate about health issues with a global, diverse audience.
Tommy also recently launched his new venture i-genius to “inspire a world community of social entrepreneurs.”
Sweet Resolution (SR): Tommy, thank you for taking the time to answer some important questions. First, how did you become involved in chronic disease issues, and what made you see them as important?
Tommy Hutchinson (TH): It was kind of by accident. I was asked to be one of the opening speakers at the Oxford Health Alliance conference at Said Business School in 2004 where I talked about communicating to young people. Shortly afterwards, they asked me to become their youth program director and so I thought, I’d better find out what all this is about. Once I did, I stuck with chronic diseases because the statistics speak for themselves in that about half the world’s population will die prematurely from what are preventable diseases. But I am also excited that it is a new communication challenge in health and one which goes right to the heart of the way people live their lives.
SR: As someone with a background in politics, how do you see the UNR changing diabetes in a way that smaller-scale changes can’t? Also, what will most make politicians and policy-makers see diabetes as a global health priority?
TH: Many UN resolutions can help to set the climate for further action and funding, especially in the developing world, but only if governments and organizations have the wit to capitalize once the resolution has been adopted.
SR: How can media/new media be utilized to maximize awareness of the issues?
TH: Media is of course very diverse; for instance, newspapers are going through a slow and painful death. But the areas that are undergoing ultra rapid growth is in user generated content like myspace and youtube. My interest is in trying to apply these “entertainment” formulas to social issues which is why I and my OxHA colleague, Eddie McCaffrey, created 3four50.com for chronic diseases.
SR: What unique role can youth play?
TH: Bertrand Russell once said “young people grow old once they become a movement”, so tread carefully. But I think there are two areas where young people can be especially influential. Firstly, they can enter into a dialogue with policy makers much like we tried to do with the OxHA European Union Youth summit. Dialogues like these help ensure that politicos apply a youth perspective when they formulate policies. Secondly, young people can be very influential in helping to design campaigns to create behavioral change among other young people. Young people are best at setting trends for other young people to follow and when you apply professional expertise in marketing and branding, you can really create change!
SR: Talk a little bit about what you have planned for the Oxford Health Alliance Cape Town summit.
TH: At the OxHA Cape Town summit we will be launching 3four50.com where we hope to engage policy makers, academics, NGO folk, business people and yes, young people in helping to shape the future of good health. If we can get these groups to interact both at the summit and thereafter, it will be a fine achievement. Time will tell if we are successful.
SR: Any final thoughts?
TH: I think social enterpreneurs have a great role to play in helping to find innovative ways to tackle health and other social problems in the world. This is why I established i-genius which is creating a world community of social enterpreneurs and hoping to inspire a new generation of social innovators. Our new community vehicle will be launched in early December at www.i-genius.org
November 28, 2006 at 3:30 pm |
Any chance you could post the audio of the interview as a podcast? This would allow me to listen to more of the interview (assuming it’s longer than the part you transcribed) and do it in the car!