On 18th March 2026, IHTM students travelled to the Houses of Parliament to present policy briefs to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, chaired by Lord Trees.
The visit is a well-established part of the IHTM programme, giving students the opportunity to engage directly with parliamentarians on pressing global health issues.
This year’s topics reflected a global health landscape under considerable pressure, with students presenting on five key areas:
1. The opportunities and challenges for malaria control.
2. The value of global health research.
3. The impact of declining global health funding on malaria and neglected tropical disease (NTD) research pipelines in both the UK and LMICs.
4. The challenges and opportunities in finalising and implementing the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) Annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
5. The growing threat of antimalarial drug resistance and implications for research and policy.
Students spent the term researching and developing their briefs under the guidance of Profs Alice Norton and Proochista Ariana. Many drew on firsthand experiences in the field and from clinical settings, bringing grounded, real-world perspectives to policy discussions that can often feel distant from the communities they affect.
With the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA) fast approaching in May, the session on the PABS Annex, a key and still unresolved element of the WHO pandemic agreement, was a specific example of students engaging with policy still actively in the making.
Each presentation was followed by questions and discussion led by Lord Trees. Students also had the opportunity to explore Westminster Hall and watch proceedings in the House of Commons, a fitting end to a day spent at the intersection of research and policy.
Speaking about her experience, IHTM student, Delina Dawit said:
It's extraordinary that as MSc students from all around the world, we had the opportunity to walk into the House of Commons, present our policy briefs, and give our recommendations directly to UK Parliamentarians. This is what makes this programme so special — it doesn't just teach you about global health, it puts you right at the heart of it.
About IHTM
IHTM is a full-time one-year multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary programme examining major challenges to the health of populations in resource-limited contexts. The programme is embedded within the world-renowned Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, at the University of Oxford, and draws on the Centre’s international expertise.