Should the NHS provide drugs for all diseases to everyone, regardless of cost? Why are there vast inequalities in health? What effect has the tobacco ban had on the NHS? These are just three of the issues being addressed at a national conference in Bristol next week.

More than 350 medical students from across the country, together with leading healthcare figures in aid, ethics, tobacco control and public health, will attend the annual national Medsin conference. They will be discussing how to improve healthcare issues fundamental to today’s society.

Hosted by Bristol University from Saturday 28 to Sunday 29 October, the two-day conference will focus on the theme ‘Health is a Human Right’, encompassing three key issues: tobacco, migration of healthcare workers and non-governmental organisations’ responses to natural disasters.

Through a series of discussions, delegates will question the impact of smoking levels on the NHS, following the successful vote for a total smoking ban due to take effect next year. With smoking rates expected to plummet, how will this affect the NHS? Is a healthier nation a sufficient reward for the money lost from tobacco taxes?

Delegates will also deliberate solutions to the ‘brain drain’. As part of the NHS expansion scheme, nearly half of the UK’s 16,000 healthcare staff have been recruited from overseas. Wealthier countries recruit thousands of healthcare workers from poorer countries each year, strengthening the health services of host countries and draining those of poorer countries of a valuable resource.

This drain is evident in Africa, where only one per cent of the world’s healthcare workers are employed, yet the country has 14 per cent of the world’s population and 25 per cent of the global disease burden. Is it ethical for the NHS to recruit from poorer countries and does this infringe on people’s right to health?

Natural disasters are one of the developed world’s biggest problems, killing hundreds of thousands of people each year and leaving many more without clean water, shelter, food and basic healthcare. Would it be more effective if donations were spent and allocated by the government, rather than by aid agencies?

The United Nations declaration states that health is a human right, but if this is the case why are there still vast inequalities in health in the UK? Should the NHS provided drugs for all diseases to everyone, regardless of cost?

Guest speakers at the event include Dr Robert Pond of the World Health Organisation, Dr Julian Sheather and Dr Michael Wilks of the British Medical Association, John Cunningham of the Red Cross and Professor Maureen Mackintosh of the United Nations Research Institute.