The austerity policies adopted in Europe aren't working. They aren't good for the economy: the economies of Greece and Spain are rapidly descending into a downward spiral. And they certainly aren’t good for health: suicides are rising across Europe, HIV is increasing, and malaria is re-emerging in Greece.

In this talk, Martin McKee will discuss:
- how the intellectual underpinnings of austerity have been demolished,
- epidemiological insights on its alarming health consequences and what can be done to mitigate its effects,
- comparisons between the U.S. and European experiences,
- the ideological motives that lead some politicians to support austerity and how they have used denialism to shape the public debate in their favor.

Martin McKee, MD, DSc, is Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine where he co-directs of the European Centre on Health of Societies in Transition (ECOHOST), a WHO Collaborating Centre, and is research director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, a unique partnership of universities, national and regional governments, and international agencies. He is also president-elect of the European Public Health Association. He trained in medicine and public health and has written extensively on health and health policy, with a particular focus on countries undergoing political and social transition.

Read his 2013 profile in The Lancet: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)60748-5/fulltext?elsca1=ETOC-LANCET&elsca2=email&elsca3=E24A35F

Light reception to follow.