18 Facts About Anthony Costello

Anthony Costello was born on 20 February 1953 and is a British paediatrician.

Until 2015 Costello was Professor of International Child Health and Director of the Institute for Global Health at the University College London.

Anthony Costello is most notable for his work on improving survival among mothers and their newborn infants in poor populations of developing countries.

Anthony Costello was born in Beckenham, and graduated from school at St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath.

Anthony Costello attended St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a degree in Experimental Psychology and qualified as a doctor in Medical Sciences after clinical training at the Middlesex Hospital in London.

Anthony Costello then trained in Paediatrics and Neonatology at University College London.

Anthony Costello's areas of scientific expertise include the evaluation of cost-effective interventions to reduce maternal and newborn deaths, women's groups, strategies to tackle malnutrition, international aid and the health effects of climate change.

Anthony Costello went on to establish partnerships and further studies with local organisations in East India, Mumbai, Bangladesh and Malawi.

Anthony Costello has led teams involved in more than a dozen cluster randomized controlled trials to show the power of community mobilization to affect health outcomes such as maternal and newborn deaths, child nutrition and diabetes.

Anthony Costello chaired the 2009 Lancet Commission on Managing the Health Effects of Climate Change, and was co-chair of a new Lancet Commission which links the UK, China, Norway and Sweden on emergency actions to tackle the climate health crisis, published in June 2015.

In February 2017, together with UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund, Anthony Costello helped to launch the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health to introduce evidence-based interventions to improve quality of care for maternal and newborn health supported by a learning system.

Anthony Costello led work on community empowerment for family health - what it means, how to measure it, and how to plan interventions at the district level.

In May 2020 Anthony Costello helped to set up the Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, better known as Independent SAGE is a group of scientists, unaffiliated to government, that aims to provide advice to the United Kingdom government regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anthony Costello had argued early on in the pandemic that the UK had neglected public health interventions recommended by WHO, that the government advisers did not include independent public health experts, and that the UK government and SAGE view that the virus could not be suppressed was wrong.

Anthony Costello has been critical of the UK Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anthony Costello holds fellowships of the Academy of Medical Sciences and of the Royal College of Physicians.

Anthony Costello has received Honorary Fellowships of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and of the Faculty of Public Health.

Anthony Costello's cousin-in-law was Talk Talk lead singer Mark Hollis.