Explore every episode of the podcast Connecting Citizens to Science
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sustaining Maternal Health Gains | 04 Oct 2024 | 00:20:41 | |
In this episode of Connecting Citizens to Science, we conclude our three-part miniseries on improving maternal and newborn healthcare. Host Dr. Kim Ozano and her guests explore how to sustain quality improvements in health systems and progress toward maternal and newborn Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Dr. Rael Mutai, Regional Technical Advisor for Maternal and Newborn Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Kenya, and Dr. Nicholas Furtado, Senior Medical Advisor at Global Fund, share their insights on the successes and challenges of embedding sustainable practices in maternal and newborn healthcare systems across Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria. (see 'useful links' for the other episodes from the series). Chapter List: 00:00:00 – Introduction to Sustainability and SDG Goals 00:01:52 – Progress Towards Maternal and Newborn Health indicators 00:04:50 – Global Landscape: The Impact of the Pandemic 00:06:37 – Addressing Inequities within Countries 00:09:26 – Healthcare Workers and Sustainable Outcomes 00:12:22 – Intersectionality and Broader Determinants of Maternal Health 00:17:38 – Advice and Call to Action for Sustainable Solutions In this episode: Dr. Rael Mutai - Regional Technical Advisor (MNH), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Tropical Kenya Rael is a public health specialist with over 21 years’ of experience in health and development. She is passionate about health systems strengthening, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and Quality Maternal and Newborn Health. Rael has been involved with the quality improvement programme in the last 3 years, as the Regional Technical Adviser for Kenya and Tanzania. The Programme uses global evidence customised to country context for improved maternal and newborn outcomes. The programme has addressed gaps in ANC-PNC service delivery through capacity building of healthcare workers and integrated approaches to care. Dr. Nicolas Furtado - Senior Medical Advisor, Global Fund Nicolas is a Senior Medical Advisor with the Health System Strengthening Technical Advice and Partnerships team at the Global Fund. He is deeply engaged in efforts to strengthen primary healthcare systems globally, particularly focusing on improving maternal and newborn health outcomes and now focusing on improving access to medical oxygen and respiratory care. Throughout his work, Nicolas has been instrumental in addressing key challenges such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare inequities, and the need for sustainable, locally adapted solutions. He advocates for simple, effective, and culturally appropriate interventions to ensure quality care at the point of service delivery. Useful links:
Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about current research and debates within global health. The podcast covers topics like health systems strengthening, gender and intersectionality, tropical diseases (NTDs, TB, Malaria), maternal and child healthcare, mental health, vector-borne diseases, climate change, and co-production approaches. If you would like your project or programme to feature in an episode or mini-series, get in touch with the producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Strengthening the Health Workforce for Maternal and Newborn Care | 02 Oct 2024 | 00:21:56 | |
Join us as we focus on how capacity strengthening in healthcare can transform maternal and newborn care outcomes, in the second episode of our three-part miniseries, "Transforming Maternal and Newborn Health". The discussion highlights the critical role of health workers, from nurses to doctors, and the importance of building skills, teamwork, and communication to improve early diagnosis and reduce complications. Experts share insights on training approaches, challenges faced, and the transformative impact of mentorship and continuous professional development in Kenya, Tanzania, and beyond. This episode offers valuable lessons for health systems strengthening and sets the stage for our next conversation on sustainability. Chapter List: 00:00:00 – Introduction to Capacity Strengthening 00:01:11 – Role of Health Workers in Maternal and Newborn Care 00:02:19 – Challenges in Achieving High-Quality Care 00:04:52 – Impact of Continuous Professional Development 00:05:51 – Real-Life Improvements in Diagnosis and Care 00:09:28 – Competency-Based Training Approaches 00:12:20 – Shifting Attitudes and Respectful Maternity Care 00:14:01 – Research Integration and Policy Influence 00:16:13 – Key Advice for Capacity Strengthening 00:20:06 – Conclusion and What’s Next In this episode: Dr. Rael Mutai, Regional Technical Advisor (MNH), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Tropical Rael is a public health specialist with over 21 years’ of experience in health and development. She is passionate about health systems strengthening, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and Quality Maternal and Newborn Health. Rael has been involved with the programme in the last 3 years, as the Regional Technical Adviser for Kenya and Tanzania. The Programme uses global evidence customised to country context for improved maternal and newborn outcomes. The programme has addressed gaps in ANC-PNC service delivery through capacity building of healthcare workers and integrated approaches to care. Dr. Leonard Katalambula – Lecturer, University of Dodoma Dr. Katalambula is the Head of the Department of Public Health at the University of Dodoma (UDOM), where he has worked for over 15 years. He also serves as Board Chairperson for Action Against Hunger (Tanzania) and is a technical committee member of TWG 6, focusing on reproductive, maternal, child, and adolescent health. An experienced researcher with publications in implementation science and public health, Dr. Katalambula leads projects on Quality Improvement of Integrated HIV, TB, and Malaria Services during antenatal and postnatal care, as well as the MEGA project. For the past 15 years, he has worked closely with communities, addressing challenges through research and community services. Sylvia Kimtai – Midwife, Uasin Gishu County Sylvia is currently attached to the county reproductive health office coordinating the elimination of maternal-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B and also quality improvement. She has been involved in ANC/PNC and quality improvement training supporting Kenya and Tanzania in both face-to-face and blended learning Sylvia mentors nurses, midwives, and clinical officers on quality improvement in ANC/PNC in Uasin Gishu County, also supporting sub-county reproductive health coordinators in the mentorship of service providers on ANC/PNC. Passionate about quality improvement, she has a WhatsApp platform where facility quality improvement chairpersons share best practices and challenges. Useful links:
Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about current research and debates within global health. The podcast covers topics like health systems strengthening, gender and intersectionality, tropical diseases (NTDs, TB, Malaria), maternal and child healthcare, mental health, vector-borne diseases, climate change, and co-production approaches. If you would like your project or programme to feature in an episode or mini-series, get in touch with the producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Participation and inclusion - Practical lessons from REDRESS | 15 Dec 2023 | 00:21:06 | |
In this episode, we discuss meaningful participation and inclusion when working with marginalised communities. We draw on research approaches from the Reducing the Burden of Severe Stigmatising Skin Diseases (REDRESS) research programme that aims to reduce illness, stigma, social exclusion, and poverty caused by severe stigmatising skin diseases (SSSDs) in Liberia. Since 2019 REDRESS has been co-developing new knowledge together with researchers, patients and programme implementers that directly respond to priority health needs detailed in the country’s ‘Investment Plan for Building a Resilient Health System’. Hannah Berrian who is a Research Fellow for the Patient Engagement and Person-Centred Approaches thematic area for REDRESS and Shahreen Chowdhury, a researcher and PhD student at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine join us in a discussion about participation and inclusion and how these impact the partnerships and power dynamics that exist when trying to improve the health and wellbeing of marginalised people. Episode guests: Miss Hannah Berrian - Research Fellow, UL-PIRE Africa Center Hannah Berrian obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) from Cuttington Graduate School of Professional Studies in Liberia. She served as Liberia’s Mental Health Research Capacity Building Coordinator for Youth FORWARD, the U.S.-National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded project from a collaboration between the Boston College of Social Work in Massachusetts, U.S., College of Medicine of the Allied Health Sciences (CoMAS) of the University of Sierra Leone, and UL-PIRE Africa Center at the University of Liberia, respectively. She has several years of professional experience in project management, qualitative and quantitative research, programme implementation, qualitative data analysis, and building capacity for mental health research, among others. Hannah is a Research Fellow for the Patient Engagement and Person-Centred Approaches thematic area on Health Systems Strengthening for Reducing the Burden of Severe Stigmatizing Skin Diseases (REDRESS) consortium. Ms Shahreen Chowdhury - Research Assistant, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Shahreen Chowdhury is a social scientist, with a background in public health and geography. She currently works as a research assistant and PhD student at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She obtained her Masters in Public Health in International Development at the University of Sheffield and has varied local and international NGO experience in diverse settings on community health programmes. Shahreen is particularly interested in the links between equity, mental health and disability inclusion, and community based participatory research. Her PhD explores mainstreaming the rights of people with psychosocial disabilities in Bangladesh, Liberia and Lebanon. In her current work, Shahreen is passionate about using creative participatory methods to amplify the voices and experiences of vulnerable groups affected by chronic illness and disability. Shahreen has extensive experience in working with co-researchers using photovoice, storytelling and art based participatory methods. Shahreen works in Neglected Tropical Disease programmes in West Africa and South Asia with a focus on co-production, designing, implementing and evaluating case detection and community based psychosocial support systems. Useful links:
Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Community Voices in Political Decisions: Why, How and Steps to Action | 03 Nov 2023 | 00:22:27 | |
In this two-part mini-series we are focusing on health systems strengthening- what it is, how to do it and what action is needed to ensure that the approach is embedded in discussions at key global events and discussion platforms. This episode follows on from the first episode from the Centre for Health Systems Strengthening at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (episode 60) which focused on the health diplomacy and how researchers can advocate for health systems strengthening approaches and community voices in health diplomacy spaces. Today we hear from two advocates who have been acting within health diplomacy spaces and as researchers. We hear from Emmanuel Zaizay, who is affected by the Neglected Tropical Disease Buruli Ulcer, about his experience of growing skills and capacity to communicate the needs of people affected by stigmatising neglected tropical diseases. We also hear from Maurine Murenga, a TB advocate who has represented the TB community in high level UN meetings. She is open and honest about both the strengths and opportunities of being an advocate, but also what this means to her on a personal level. Her open reflections are really critical to how researchers function when engaging with communities. Episode guests: Dr Kerry Millington - Research Uptake Manager, Liverpool of Tropical Medicine Kerry has been working in global health for over 20 years with a keen focus on ending the tuberculosis epidemic. A key part of her work is developing trusted relationships with range of stakeholders to work in partnership, in collaboration and in a coordinated way ensuring the academic and health professional voice credibly informs decisions that impact on health. This can range from co-creating research ideas to influencing policy and political commitments. A key stakeholder to engage with is the voice of TB survivors and advocates to accelerate action for those in most need of innovations in TB care and prevention to transform lives. Maurine Murenga - Coordinator of TB Women Global Maurine Murenga is a passionate advocate for the health, development and human rights of women and children. Maurine’s passion for advocacy is driven by her lived experience, and the inequality and vulnerability that young women and adolescent girls experience in her community. Maurine is currently the coordinator of TB Women Global, Board Member of Unitaid, Friend of the Fight US and EGPAF Kenya. She is a former board member of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and is also a member of WHO's Global Accelerator for Pediatric Formulations Advisory and Union Working Group Gender Equity in TB. In Kenya – Maurine is a member of the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism and Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV Committee of Experts. Emmanuel Zaizay – Co-researcher and advocate, REDRESS, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Emmanuel Zaizay is from Lofa County, Voinjama District. He works with REDRESS as a coresearcher and was recruited as a patient affected person having been diagnosed with Buruli ulcer. He also serves as a data collector, working in photovoice settings and participatory methods such as bodymapping and focus group discussions. Useful links:
Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Lessons from The Centre for Health Systems Strengthening; Health Diplomacy | 22 Sep 2023 | 00:25:36 | |
Hello Listeners! In this episode we are joined by the Centre for Health Systems Strengthening at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, also known as CHESS. In this first episode of a two-part mini-series focusing on health systems strengthening, we talk about health diplomacy and why it is needed. We hear from Dr. Joanna Raven and Dr. Kerry Millington, who have both been working in global health for over 20 years and are passionate about embedding both health systems strengthening approaches and community knowledge into political commitments and policy reforms. Bringing a perspective from the fields of maternal and child health, lung health and tuberculosis, Dr Uzochukwu Egere co-hosts this episode where we discuss health diplomacy as a new field for academics and healthcare professionals. One that is about making connections, sharing intel and learning how the United Nations and other High-Level Meetings work, so we can effectively share evidence quickly in often extremely short windows of opportunity, so policy makers can listen and act. Dr Uzochukwu Egere - Senior Research Associate, Emergency Obstetric and Quality of Care Unit, Department of International Public Health (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) Uzo is a paediatrician and public health researcher with extensive experience in multidisciplinary global health research. His research interest is in implementation research and health systems strengthening to tackle inequities in the fields of Maternal and Child health, Lung health and Tuberculosis. Uzo’s work focuses on health and health systems challenges relevant to low-and middle-income settings and facilitates interactions between researchers and consumers of research outputs (the community) to ensure timely policy change, uptake of interventions, and universal health coverage. Dr Joanna Raven - Reader in health systems, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Jo has worked in global health for more than 25 years, focusing on strengthening health systems. Jo is a researcher with a passion for co-designing and implementing health system research with local stakeholders including community members, health workers, health managers and decision makers. As a health worker herself, Jo’s work focuses on supporting the health workforce to deliver people-centred care that is of good quality and leaves no one behind. Dr Kerry Millington – Research Uptake Manager, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Kerry has been working in global health for over 20 years with a keen focus on ending the tuberculosis epidemic. A key part of her work is developing trusted relationships with range of stakeholders to work in partnership, in collaboration and in a coordinated way ensuring the academic and health professional voice credibly informs decisions that impact on health. This can range from co-creating research ideas to influencing policy and political commitments. A key stakeholder to engage with is the voice of TB survivors and advocates to accelerate action for those in most need of innovations in TB care and prevention to transform lives. Research programme links: ReBUILD for Resilience - Research on health systems in fragile contexts PERFORM2scale – Scaling up PERFORM ReDRESS - Strengthening people-centred health systems for people affected by severe stigmatising skin diseases in Liberia LIGHT - Aims to support policy and practice in transforming gendered pathways to health for people with TB in urban settings Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Stronger Together: Evidence for collaborative action on NTDs. | 28 Jul 2023 | 00:23:50 | |
In this episode we will be hearing about a seven year research programme known as COUNTDOWN. COUNTDOWN consisted of multidisciplinary research teams across 4 countries- Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Cameroon and used co-production research approaches to improve the equity and efficiency of health systems interventions to control and eliminate seven Neglected Tropical Diseases. Research was implemented at each of the health system levels from policy to community and is all documented in the Journal ‘International Health’ as a supplement entitled Stronger together: evidence for collaborative action on neglected tropical diseases. The supplement tells the story of how the programme engaged with people who have lived experience, health workers, and policy makers and really emphasises the importance of togetherness. Our guests today are Dr Luret Lar who was the programme manager employed by Sightsavers Nigeria, a collaborator on the COUNTDOWN programme, Dr Karsor Kollie who is the Program Director for Neglected Tropical Diseases at the Ministry of Health Liberia and Laura Dean from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine who was the Social Science lead for COUNTDOWN. Dr Laura Dean – Lecturer, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Laura has worked for the last 15 years in the use of participatory health research methodologies to support community and health systems development across sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. Through participatory action research projects, she supports capacity strengthening within communities and health systems so that stakeholders can identify challenges and co-produce solutions. The majority of her work has focused on increasing inclusion and participation of people with lived experience of mental health conditions and chronic infectious diseases of poverty, for example neglected tropical diseases. Dr. Luret Lar - Medical Doctor, Public Health Physician, Lecturer, University of Jos, Nigeria Luret was involved in implementation research for seven years in collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine when she was working for Sightsavers. Her interest and passion about preventive medicine and including the voices of the voiceless have influenced her research career over the years. Luret was interested in inclusivity at all levels of implementation in the neglected tropical diseases programme. This connected her with people affected by neglected tropical diseases and implementers at the community facility, state, and federal levels. She worked closely with these implementers to co-produce solutions to implementation challenges that everyone collectively identified. Karsor Kollie – Programme Director, Ministry of Health, Liberia Since 2011, Mr Kollie has established and headed the Liberian Integrated NTDs Prevention and Control Programme and is based within the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. He developed the NTD country master plan which forms the operational national guide for the next 5 years. Under his leadership the Liberian programme is making excellent progress in MDA control of Lymphatic Filariasis, Onchocerciasis, Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted Helminthiasis (STH) where treatment coverage has not gone below 75%, respectively. Alongside this, he is making significant progress in the development and application of new monitoring and evaluation criteria tailoring activities effectively with difficult on-the-ground terrain. Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Preserving Histories of Resilience to Inform Future Generations | 09 Jun 2023 | 00:29:36 | |
In this episode we are talking about the FEPOW Research Group. FEPOW stands for Far East Prisoners of War, and it focuses on capturing the history of civilian captives during the second World War and the impact that this has had on subsequent generations. The group brings together veterans, their families, writers, and academics to create a friendly space to capture stories that we can learn from and apply to research now. Approximately 240,000 Allied servicemen had become prisoners of war of the Japanese by early 1942. Over 50,000 British were captured during the fighting in Hong Kong, Malaya, at the fall of Singapore and across the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). The 415-kilometre Thailand-Burma railway was built by Far East prisoners of war (FEPOW) who were part of a huge slave labour force drafted from across the region. The railway provided the Japanese with a vital supply route for their fighting forces in Burma. It was forged through raw jungle, across mountain passes and was completed in a little over 15 months in October 1943. Of the 30,000 British FEPOW sent to camps in Thailand and Burma over 6,600 died. For this episode, we welcome a new co-host, Geoff Gill from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where he has been involved with research and clinical care of former Far East prisoners of war. He has led the medical history inquiries into Far East imprisonment, resulting in two recent books, Captive Memories, and Burma Railway Medicine. We also have two great guests, Brian Spittle and James Reynolds. Geoff explains to us “I think one of the things I've learnt over the years, is that there are many different ways of telling a story and there's no one right way there, there are many different ways.” and in direct reference to the stories shared directly from the FEPOWs and their archives “It's a story worth learning from, and I think we have receptive generations to tell it to.” This episode features: Prof. Geoff Gill – Professor of International Medicine, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Geoff Gill is Professor of International Medicine at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University of Liverpool, and a retired NHS Consultant Physician. At LSTM he has been involved in the medical care of ex-Far East Prisoners of War (POWs), as well as extensive clinical research into their ongoing health problems – notably persisting malaria and amoebic dysentery, chronic worm infestations, hepatitis B infection, long-term effects of vitamin deficiency, and the extensive psychological aftermath. He has published extensively on these and other POW-related health issues. More recent research has involved the medical history of the Far East POW experience, in particular on the Thai-Burma Railway. This resulted in a PhD degree in 2009, and the book Burma Railway Medicine (with Meg Parkes) published in 2017. The LSTM Far East POW Project has been in operation in different forms since late 1945, and is the longest collaboration in the School’s history. Brian Spittle Brian grew up in the UK and in his mid-twenties moved to the United States to pursue postgraduate studies. He has lived in Chicago for the past forty years, retiring from a career in higher education administration six years ago. His father, Jack Spittle, was in the RAMC during the Second World War, arriving in Singapore at the end of November 1941. He worked in the dysentery wing at Roberts Hospital at Changi, and followed the hospital moves to Selarang and Kranji. A keen ornithologist, he made detailed observations of the birds at Changi, publishing them after the war in the Bulletin of the Raffles Museum. It was only after his father died in 2004 that Brian found the notebooks he had made in captivity. Brian is close to completing a memoir about his own journey to understand more of Jack Spittle’s time as a POW and of his own childhood growing up with a father with PTSD. The working title for the memoir is: Bird’s Eye View. James Reynolds James Reynolds is the grandson of FEPOW Eric Cordingly, and the son of author Louise Cordingly. James has worked for the BBC since 1997, firstly as a foreign correspondent, now as a news presenter on the World Service. He's spent many years covering the effects of war. Find out more about LSTM's FEPOW programme here: https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/history/far-eastern-prisoners-of-war-fepow Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Let's Play! The Intersection between Art and Science | 26 May 2023 | 00:19:24 | |
Have you heard the term SciArt before? In this episode, we explore what it is and the benefits of combining art and science as a research and communication tool. Our Co-host for this episode is Elli Wright, Public Engagement Manager at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Elli told us ‘...effective science communication can really connect people and communities with research. Science communicators and public engagement professionals want to reduce the elitism built into society with regards to who is allowed to access scientific knowledge. Science belongs to all of us which is why effective science communication is so important. There are many ways that science can be communicated to the diverse public audience, including through art.’ Natasha Niethamer shared with us, ‘the more we engage others about public health concerns that require global efforts to fight, the more likely we are to inspire community action, driving interest in policy makers and funders. Directly inspiring even one teacher, parent, young person, or community member may indirectly inspire a large network of their own. You may inspire the next major activist of our generation!’ Listen on to find out more about how a playful approach can bring new insights to your work. This episode features: Dr Elli Wright - Public Engagement Manager, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Elli has been working in the science communication and public engagement sector at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine for nearly 8 years. She is currently studying an MSc. in science communication at the University of the West of England, which has given her a stronger understanding of the theories behind science communication practices. Her research explores the use of autoethnography as a tool to the co-creation of the Tropical Medicine Time Machine by artists Tom Hyatt and Natasha Neithamer (also featured in this episode).
Mark Roughley - Senior Lecturer 3D Digital Art, Liverpool John Moores University Mark is a Senior Lecturer in 3D Digital Art at Liverpool School of Art and Design and a member of the Face Lab research group that explores faces and art-science applications. Mark trained as a medical artist, gaining his MSc in Medical Art from the University of Dundee, and specialises in visualising anatomy through 3D data acquisition, modelling and fabrication. His research focuses on the affordances of 3D digital technologies for both digital and haptic interaction with anatomical and cultural artefacts. Mark is also the programme leader for the MA Art in Science programme, which provides exciting opportunities for artists and scientists to collaborate and explore the boundaries of art and science. Tom Hyatt - PhD Student at the Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool John Moores University Tom is a polymathic artist, musician, scientist, educator, and maker from Rossendale, Lancashire. After graduating with a Masters in physics and philosophy from Oxford University he moved to London to pursue grassroots music and a career in the arts, while teaching maths and physics. He moved back up to Liverpool after receiving a PhD scholarship to study at the Liverpool School of Art and Design. Recently he has been working with Natasha Niethamer to create the ‘Tropical Medicine Time Machine’ for LSTM – a multifaceted piece of sci-art public engagement that encompasses the length and breadth of LSTM’s prolific 125 years. Natasha Niethamer – SciArtist, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Natasha is a SciArtist commissioned to create a pop up museum for LSTMs 125th Anniversary, along with a set of interactive loan boxes for use in local primary schools. Natasha has a special interest in sci-art activism and public outreach in microbiology and antimicrobial resistance. In 2020, she graduated from the MA Art in Science programme at Liverpool John Moores University. Her final MA project, an interactive choose-your-own text adventure called Bacteria, The Future, follows the heroic journey of a human from the 2050s travelling back in time as a bacteria to administer antibiotics to novel resistant microbes inside Hugh Manity, an unfortunate human in our present day, to save future humanity from the urgent global health crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Natasha also has an academic and professional background in microbiology, and since graduating spent time working in Dr Adam Roberts’ research lab at LSTM studying AMR mechanisms of evolution in clinical bacterial isolates. She grew up in California, USA and obtained a double major in Microbiology and Molecular Biology at Cal Poly SLO. She worked in plankton research, as an emergency room scribe, graphic design, and as a university science tutor. Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Invest, Innovate, Implement for Zero Malaria: From Lab to Communities | 21 Apr 2023 | 00:30:16 | |
In this episode, we are going to celebrate World Malaria Day with our co-host and guests. This year's theme is Time to Deliver Zero Malaria, and it is focused on investing, innovating, and implementing tools that are available today and innovating for future tools. WHO calls to action include prioritising funding for the most marginalised and hard to reach populations who are less able to access services and are the hardest hit when it comes to becoming ill from malaria. To help us understand more, we have co-host, Dr. Hellen Barsosio, who is a medical Kenyan doctor who has been investigating risk factors, tools, and interventions to prevent adverse birth outcomes, and more recently research on preventing malaria in pregnancy. She is in her final year of her PhD at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine under the Department of Clinical Science, where her PhD focuses on new drugs to prevent malaria in pregnancy. The WHO also calls for stepping up innovation for new vector control approaches, so we have two guests with us today to help us to understand what those are. We will be speaking to reader and Wolfson Fellow, Dr. Grant Hughes, and reader, Dr. Tony Nolan from the Vector Biology and Tropical Disease Biology Department at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Tony has led the development of genetic tools to better understand the biology of mosquitoes that transmit malaria, and this has led to the development of genetic approaches to control mosquito populations. This is to decrease the amount of malaria transmission. Tony is also using some of these tools to understand how insecticides work, and in particular, how mosquitoes can evolve resistance to insecticides. Grant is currently focusing on novel control strategies for arboviruses and malaria, and his overarching goal is to develop approaches which will either reduce mosquito numbers, or stop these mosquitoes transmitting the pathogens that make people ill. This episode features: Dr Hellen Barsosio - Clinical Research Scientist and section Head Maternal and New-born Health Studies, Malaria Program, KEMRI-CGHR Over the past 11 years, Hellen has been investigating risk factors, tools and interventions to prevent adverse birth outcomes, and more recently research on preventing malaria in pregnancy as one of the causes of adverse birth outcomes in malaria endemic areas. She trained in Kenya as a medical doctor, and did her post-graduate studies at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University of Oxford. She is in the final year of her PhD at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine under the department of Clinical Science where her PhD work focuses on new drugs to prevent malaria in pregnancy. Dr Tony Nolan - Reader in Insect Genetics and Research Group Leader, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Tony has led the development of genetic tools to better understand the biology of mosquitoes that transmit malaria. This has led to the development of genetic approaches to control mosquito populations, in order to decrease the amount of malaria transmission. Tony is also using some of these genetic tools to understand how insecticides work and, in particular, how mosquitoes can evolve resistance to insecticides. Dr Grant Hughes - Reader and Royal Society Wolfson Fellow, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Grant has been investigating the use of microbes to control mosquito-borne diseases for over 15 years. After undertaking a PhD at the University of Queensland in Australia looking at microbial control of crop pests, Grant moved to the US to complete a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to examine how a bacteria called Wolbachia infected mosquitoes and interacted with Plasmodium parasites, the parasites that cause Malaria. After further work at Penn State University, working on the same project, Grant moved to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston where his research shifted focus to examine microbes, mosquitoes, and arboviruses. Since moving to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine research has focused on novel control strategies for arboviruses and malaria, with the overarching goal to develop approaches which will either reduce mosquito number or stop these mosquitoes transmitting the pathogens that make people sick. Relevant links: BBC article ‘UK scientists say they have reached a milestone in the fight against malaria by creating a genetically modified mosquito that is infertile’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35024794 Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. Twitter: @podcast_CCS If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Engaging Advocates With Research to End TB | 24 Mar 2023 | 00:24:07 | |
In this episode we are celebrating World TB Day, this year’s campaign is ‘YES! We Can End TB’ and is all about solidarity and collective action. It centres on the increased engagement of those affected by TB, communities and civil society that are leading the movement towards ending this disease. This episode features the LIGHT consortium which aims to provide new evidence on the effectiveness of different gender-sensitive pathways and approaches to health for those with TB in urban, HIV-prevalent settings across Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi and Kenya. Our co-host Samara Barnes, who has lived experience of TB in the UK, speaks with researchers Toyosi Adekeye in Nigeria and Jasper Nidoi in Uganda from the LIGHT consortium about the ways they are enaging with affected communities in their work. Samara also shares her experience from the UK and the conversation reflects on the differences of TB across contexts. This episode features: Samara Barnes Affected Community Co-Lead at the UK Academics and Professionals to End TB (UKAPTB) Samara is an Affected Community Co-Lead at the UK Academics and Professionals to End TB (UKAPTB). She was diagnosed with active pulmonary TB in late 2015 and it was discovered she was also drug resistant as her treatment went on. Until that point, Samara knew little about the illness apart from the fact that her Grandad had died of TB many years previously. Samara has raised money for TB Alert and has been part of their peer supporter programme too. She has also studied and written papers on the Global disparities in TB treatment. It is important for Samara to raise awareness of this illness, be an advocate for reducing the stigma surrounding it and to encourage decision makers in the UK to ensure they keep to their commitment of a year on year reduction of TB and contribute to the WHO's commitment to eliminate TB by 2035. Samara works for a national children's charity and is also a borough and county councilor. Dr Jasper Nidoi - Early Career Researcher, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, U.K and Makerere University Lung Institute, Uganda. Jasper Nidoi is a Ugandan medical doctor with specialist training in health economics and health systems and policy research from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. For over 5 years, she has been involved in the design and implementation of clinical trials that have evaluated drugs for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in Uganda. She is a health economist on a clinical trial that is evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of standardized medication for MDR-TB. She was a co-investigator in a study that evaluated the impact of socio-economic factors on tuberculosis treatment outcomes in one of the poorest regions in Uganda. Her research interests are in the socio-economic determinants of health as they pertain to tuberculosis and the use of decision-analytic models to systematically synthesise data for the economic evaluation of healthcare interventions to guide policy that maximises resource allocation in the presence of uncertainty. Dr Jasper Nidoi joins the LIGHT Consortium as a researcher where she will contribute to generating evidence on gender-sensitive pathways and approaches for TB to increase the proportion of men in urban areas with TB who successfully complete screening and initiate treatment. Dr Toyosi Adekeye - Senior Lecturer Department of Community Medicine and primary Healthcare Bingham University and Research Uptake Manager, LIGHT Consortium Zankli Research Centre (ZRC) Nigeria Dr. Adekeye is a Medical Doctor and Public Health expert who serves as a senior lecturer in the Department of Community Medicine and Primary Healthcare and the LIGHT consortium Research Uptake Manager, at the Zankli Research Centre (ZRC), Bingham University, New Karu, Nasarawa State where he manages and coordinates all research activities and inputs across the LIGHT consortium in Nigeria. He leads a team that strives to generate new evidence on options and approaches to maximize male access to healthcare services for TB in urban, HIV-prevalent settings. The evidence generated will inform better gender-sensitive and pro-poor policies that will enable better access to TB care. Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Feminising Data and Nudging Change for Gender Equity | 08 Mar 2023 | 00:23:44 | |
In this episode we are celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD). This year’s theme is #EmbraceEquity and aims to get the world talking about why "equal opportunities are no longer enough" - and can in fact be exclusionary, rather than inclusive. We will be discussing the differences between the terms equity and equality and why is it important to understand, acknowledge and value this. Definitions of these terms are provided by IWD campaign, they highlight the differences. • Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. • Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. To explore what this means in reality, we have two guests who will speak about the work they are doing to promote equity. They unearth differences as well as similarities across their respective contexts, but draw the same conclusions, “... it's a process. It takes time. You do get some gains and you should celebrate those. So don't feel frustrated and its small steps and nudging and knowing who to reach out to. Most importantly, listening to the voice of the community and those that we want to work with, that's the most critical part”. About our guests: Dr Lilian Otiso - Executive Director, LVCT Health Dr. Lilian Otiso is the Executive Director of LVCT Health, a large Kenyan NGO that carries out programs on HIV, sexual & reproductive health, gender-based violence, mental health and community health reaching over 1 million individuals annually. She is a medical doctor with an MBA in Health Care Management currently pursuing a PhD in Global Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Her PhD topic is on accountability for universal health coverage among pregnant adolescents/teenage mothers. Lilian has over 15 years’ clinical, programming and research experience in government and NGO sectors at senior management level. She has been a Principle Investigator and co-investigator of several research studies. She is passionate about the community and has conducted several studies and projects on community health. She has contributed to Kenyan and global WHO guidelines and policies and published several documents and peer reviewed articles. She is the winner of the Trocaire Oscar Romero Award 2021 for protecting vulnerable communities during COVID 19. Dr. Renu Khosla - Director, Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE) Dr. Kholsa is the Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE). Her core values are designed to include, level-up and connect urban low-income communities. She seeks to unthink and reimagine slum development; nudging a change from top-down to bottom-up and state to people-led development. Her work is aimed at strengthening local government capacity for: participative planning, information visualization and analytics using spatial and social media technologies, localizing and de-engineering solutions and strategies and simplifying institutions. Her work has led to deepening of the policy discourse on urban poor and access to services. Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Gender Inequity: The Driver of Gender Based Violence | 04 Mar 2023 | 00:24:06 | |
In this episode we celebrate International Women’s Day by revealing the hidden gender inequities that lead to gender-based violence and more importantly what can be done to instigate change. It is the first of two episodes celebrating International Women’s Day and features a Kenyan community based participatory research project by Beate Ringwald (PhD student) from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine who worked in partnership with LVCT Health (including our guests) and 11 community co-researchers from Gitathuru village in Korogocho. The study aimed to strengthen community capacity to prevent intimate partner violence and HIV. Veronica Mwania and Maria Muthoki take us through a participatory research journey, discussing the ways that they engaged co-researchers whilst considering and addressing power structures of inequity. They talk about how knowledge was generated through creativity, dialogue and awareness raising which was embedded and transferred to communities through drama, word of mouth and art. More about our guests: Maria Muthoki – Researcher, Kemri, LVCT, Infinite Insight (among others) Maria Muthoki is a freelance researcher based in Nairobi, Kenya and has 14 of years of professional research experience. She has done both social and market research, involving mainly qualitative and sometimes quantitative methods. Maria Muthoki worked with LVCT Health, as part of the Accountability for Informal Urban Equity Hub (ARISE), to support this community-based participatory PhD study on the intersections of HIV and intimate partner violence in an informal settlement in Nairobi. She worked with a diverse group of community co-researchers from an informal settlement. While her main role was documentation and management of data, she also supported co-researchers to analyse data and disseminate findings. Maria loves talking to people and understanding their viewpoint on the studies that she conducts. Veronicah Mwania - Independent Researcher, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Veronica Mwania has a background in applied psychology and has been an independent researcher for 17 years in Kenya. She has worked for LVCT Health on various research studies, including the participatory study that we will be hearing about in this episode. She is currently working with the Kenya Medical Research Institute on a study involving mental health screening for adolescents who are living with HIV. Veronica’s work in this project blended intersectionality and participatory research approaches working with a diverse group of community co-researchers who were equal partners in the research process. Intersectionality links theory and action – the formation of theory through practice by marginalised groups and the use of knowledge to challenge inequalities in everyday life. By applying a participatory health research approach, the team sought to mitigate the risk of their research being a closed space, reproducing unequal power structures, and being irrelevant. In line with participatory and intersectionality research guidelines, they paid attention to power, time, space, and diversity of knowledge; and promoted reflexivity, equity, and opportunities for collective action. Useful links: Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Quality Innovations in Maternal and Newborn Health | 30 Sep 2024 | 00:19:29 | |
In this first episode of our three-part miniseries, "Transforming Maternal and Newborn Health," we dive into a groundbreaking quality improvement programme that has made significant strides in integrating HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria services into antenatal and postnatal care across Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania. We explore emerging evidence on how health systems can adapt and respond to changing landscapes, including the impact of COVID-19, to deliver better outcomes for mothers and newborns. Featuring insights from leading experts, we discuss the challenges, successes, and innovative approaches that have strengthened the capacity of health workers and improved access to essential care. This episode sets the stage for the next discussions on capacity building and sustainability, making it a must-listen for anyone interested in global health and health systems strengthening. Chapters: 00:00:00 – Introduction and Series Overview 00:01:30 – Responding to COVID-19 and Building Resilience 00:03:20 – Maternal Health Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa 00:04:45 – Strengthening Health Workforce Capacity 00:06:20 – Key Findings and Lessons Learned 00:08:04 – Addressing Gender-Based Violence and Mental Health 00:09:17 – Practical Impact and Stories from Nigeria 00:11:54 – Next Steps and Future Recommendations 00:14:19 – Adapting to COVID-19 Challenges 00:17:15 – Final Advice and Conclusions In this episode: Dr. Rael Mutai, Regional Technical Advisor (MNH), Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Tropical Rael is a public health specialist with over 21 years’ experience in health and development. She is passionate about health systems strengthening, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and Quality Maternal and Newborn Health. Rael has been involved with the programme in the last 3 years, as the Regional Technical Adviser for Kenya and Tanzania. The Programme uses global evidence customized to country context for improved maternal and newborn outcomes. The programme has addressed gaps in ANC-PNC service delivery through capacity building of healthcare workers and integrated approaches to care. Prof. Charles Ameh - Programme Lead, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Charles led the implementation of the GF ANC/PNC quality improvement programme in the last 3 years. This involves identifying problems and co-creating solutions with stakeholders in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria. Key interventions designed and tested during this programme are relevant to several communities: maternity care providers, researchers, MNH programme managers, health professional associations and regulatory bodies, training institutions, women of reproductive age and their families in LMICs. Dr. Oladipo Aremu, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital , Oyo State, Nigeria Dr Oladipo Aremu has been involved in research work relating to post-partum haemorrhage, maternal and child health for the last three years. His contribution to the post-partum haemorrhage research has helped to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. During the period of the research, the cost of the drug administered on patients resulted in remarkable cost savings when compared to cost of blood transfusion. Previous research activities involved in also contributed to improvement in respectful maternity care and upgrading the health worker-patient relationship. Useful links:
Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about current research and debates within global health. The podcast covers topics like health systems strengthening, gender and intersectionality, tropical diseases (NTDs, TB, Malaria), maternal and child healthcare, mental health, vector-borne diseases, climate change, and co-production approaches. If you would like your project or programme to feature in an episode or mini-series, get in touch with the producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Tackling FGS - A priority for equality | 27 Jan 2023 | 00:21:52 | |
We have a really important episode for you as we approach World Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) day on 30th January calling for all to act together and act now. We are going to be talking about female genital schistosomiasis, which affects approximately 56 million girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa. Host, Kim Ozano is joined by co-host Pamela Mbabazi from the United Nations with guests; Rhoda Ndubani, who is a study manager for a female sexual reproductive health screening programme for FGS in Zambia, Christine Masong, who is a PhD student with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine undertaking research in Cameroon, exploring how culture and the social structures affect illness experiences and treatment pathways of girls and women with FGS, and finally, Dr. Victoria Gamba, who is a gynaecologist and advocate for FGS awareness based in Kenya. If you would like to understand more about FGS, here's some resources for you: A call to action for universal health coverage: Why we need to address gender inequities in the neglected tropical diseases community https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7067373/ Discussion paper the gender dimensions of neglected tropical diseases from the Access and Delivery Partnership in partnership with LSTM https://adphealth.org/upload/resource/2523_ADP_Discussion_Paper_NTDs_211119_web.pdf Useful factsheets on FGS: Japanese: https://adphealth.org/upload/resource/2523_ADP_Discussion_Paper_NTDs_211119_web.pdf English: https://adphealth.org/upload/resource/2658_ADP_NTDs_and_Gender_factsheet_280120.pdf More about our guests; Dr. Pamela Sabina Mbabazi - Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), WHO headquarters in Geneva Presently, Pamela is working as a medical epidemiologist in the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Her current research interests include strengthening monitoring and evaluation for neglected tropical diseases programmes particularly in vulnerable populations with a focus on women and children, notably for female genital schistosomiasis (FGS). She has authored several publications in peer reviewed journals, mainly related to methodologies for tracking public health gains for neglected tropical diseases and the effects of co-morbidities. Dr. Victoria Gamba - Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Private Practice/Ministry of Health Kenya/University of Nairobi Passionate about participatory efforts to reduce and eliminate vaccine preventable illnesses and an advocate of gender equality and promoting sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls, Victoria is a resident obstetrician and gynaecologist at a private health group and a part time consultant with the Ministry of Health Department of Vector-borne and neglected tropical diseases in collaboration with LVCT-health Kenya. Rhoda Ndubani -Study Manager, Zambart Rhoda is the study manager at Zambart on a study called ‘Zipime Weka Schista’, a longitudinal Cohort Study focusing on Integrating Female Sexual Reproductive Health Screening in Zambia focused on one-stop self-sampling for schistosomiasis and other genital infections. The aim of the study is to develop a holistic approach for the community-based diagnosis of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) through a comprehensive package for sexual and reproductive health screening including human papillomavirus (HPV), sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV and Schistosomiasis across endemicity settings (from high to low transmission) in Zambia. The duration of the study is from 2021 to 2025. And they aim to recruit 2500 women in the cohort. The women are screened for FGS and HPV using self-sampling in the household and at the health facility. The women are provided with information and instructions on how to do the self-sampling. The study is observing high acceptability so far. The next stage of the study is to run validation of the self-samples taken at home and the ones collected in the health facility. Makia Christine Masong (Msc) - PhD student, Catholic University of Central Africa; MTN-OCEAC fellow Christine is a social scientist from Cameroon, where, with the immense support from the KfW MTN/OCEAC PhD scholarship for researchers from Central Africa sub-region is conducting research on neglected tropical diseases. She is currently completing her thesis in medical anthropology on the social representations of FGS including the sexual and reproductive health, mental and socio-economic impacts on the lives of young girls and women in Cameroon. Christine works with community members and fore-line health workers at the primary health care level to understand the existing cultural and social dynamics which encourage the continued incidences of this gynaecological condition, and also how the response towards its management is organised within these same communities and within the formal health system. Relevant links: WHO road map for NTDs: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240010352 ipime Weka Schista! (Do self-testing sister!): https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/zipime-weka-schista https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000007&type=printab le https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7463188/ https://www.eliminateschisto.org/blog/gsa-celebrates-international-womens-day Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| Battling Bacteria - Community Microbe Champions! | 20 Jan 2023 | 00:24:13 | |
We have a conversation including our first citizen scientist to kick of 2023. Lou Kellett is an active participant in the Liverpool School of Tropical medicine Swab and Send programme, which is striving to find the next breakthrough in bacteria to defeat antimicrobial resistance. We also hear from Dr. Adam Roberts, the creator of the programme, and Dr. Amy McLeman, who is taking the bacteria that shows promising results, through to the next stage of investigation in the lab. Swab and Send is an innovative programme that relies on the anticipation of citizens to infinitely broaden the search for a solution to the AMR problem. Amy provides us with an insight: “Antimicrobials can be produced by bacteria or fungus from anywhere; from the soil in your local park to your kitchen sink. These are just two of the places we are looking for the next new antibiotics and it works! We are finding microbes producing interesting antimicrobials that our team are working on characterising, but did you know it can take 10-15 years and over $1.7 billion to develop a new antibiotic from discovery to market. Even then once a new antibiotic is being sold the investment return is less than $50 million on average each year. Research and development costs massively outweigh the financial return”. About our guests: Dr. Adam Roberts – Reader, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Adam Roberts leads a research group investigating various aspects of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from molecular biology and evolution of transferable AMR to genomic surveillance and antimicrobial drug discovery. Dr. Amy McLeman - Postdoctoral Research Associate, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Amy works as a postdoctoral research associate on discovery and characterisation of novel antimicrobials from environmental isolates. Her work includes outreach to individuals and communities to communicate the importance of AMR and what Swab and Send is doing to tackle this, and to also encourage involvement of the public to take swabs of everything and anything and send them into us to look for the next antibiotic. Lou Kellett – Active Citizen Scientists, Wales, UK Lou has worked in local food and farming business for the last couple of decades, including organic farming. An active participant in many citizen science projects, Lou is particularly enthusiastic about the swab and send programme as it creates the opportunity for to share the unique local environmental habitats with the wider world. Lou finds being an active citizen scientist is a great way satiate a hungry sense of curiosity. Relevant links: https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/public-engagement/swab-send https://www.facebook.com/swabandsend/ https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/fsoa-2020-0053 #SwabAndSend Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, The SCL Agency. | |||
| S10 E5: From lab to people - the translational research journey | 30 Dec 2022 | 00:22:07 | |
In this celebratory episode to close out 2022, we have brought together previous co-hosts and guests to reflect on what we have learned over the past year. We examine our learning along the translational research pathway. The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have a translational research trajectory; that means there is a continuum of science from basic research and labs to embedding change for communities and within sustainable policies and practices. LSTM works with a range of partners globally along this continuum, and in this episode, we will be hearing from some of those that have worked with LSTM and have different positions within programmes and PhDs. Our multidisciplinary guests share their understanding of community engagement and how they ensure that community voice is included in research design, analysis and outcomes throughout the research pathway. This episode features: Beatrice Egid – MRC PhD Student, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine In 2017, Beatrice completed a BA in Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford. She began an MSc in Tropical Disease Biology at LSTM in September 2018, during which she undertook a research project determining the level of insecticide resistance in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Accra, Ghana, and the metabolic mechanisms driving it. Beatrice started the MRC Doctoral Training Programme at LSTM, with an integrated MRes at Lancaster University in Global Health: Quantitative and Translational Skills, in 2019. Beatrice is undertaking her PhD as part of the ARISE project. Within ARISE, Beatrice's project focuses on vector-borne diseases in waste-picking communities in Vijayawada, India. She will be employing a mixed-methods approach, combining aspects of entomology and policy analysis alongside qualitative and participatory methods. Beatrice has a strong interest in health policy and co-production research approaches. She conducted a desk-based policy project exploring the intersection between vector-borne diseases and city resilience in the context of the Resilient Cities Network (RCN), and has published two papers from her MRes qualitative research project investigating power dynamics in participatory research. Dr. Oluwatosin Adekeye - Assistant Director of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry Ahmadu Bello University Hospital Zaria Kaduna A social scientist with varied experience in both clinical and research aspects of health among communities in Northern Nigeria. As a Clinical Psychologist, his work has been both on mental and behavioural disorders and the effects of chronic disease on the well-being of patients and caregivers. As a Social Scientist, he just concluded a study that documented the well-being of people with stigmatizing skin diseases and established a care and support group within the community. More recently he is working on developing a well-being tool for parents and children with disability.
Dr Akinola Oluwole – Consultant, Sightsavers, Nigeria Dr Akinola Oluwole is an experienced researcher with a special interest in socio-epidemiology of tropical infectious diseases. His multidisciplinary expertise includes spatial disease mapping, monitoring and evaluation of intervention and control programmes and implementation/Health systems research for public health and disease control. He has over Fifteen years’ experience working on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). Recently, Dr Akinola was the programme lead for two Co-production research projects within the COUNTDOWN consortia, one to develop a care package for Female Genital Schistosomiasis and a second to improve the equity of mass drug administration in Nigeria. Both projects utilised innovative Participatory Health Research methods to generate evidence-based information on how to effectively tackle implementation challenges for NTD programme in Nigeria. Dr Akinola has strengthened the capacity of health systems actors, NTD implementers and researchers through training, mentorship and the development of practical guidelines and policy. He is passionate about influencing policy change in Nigeria and Internationally to reduce inequities created by NTDS within the poorest communities. Yaimie López - Research Assistant, Centre for Health Studies, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala Yaimie is a biologist from Guatemala with research experience in vector borne diseases and strengthening of health systems. She has been involved in several quantitative research projects focused on the biological side of the diseases, and in one qualitative project to understand the perception of key actors involved. The qualitative project was done with the participatory action research methods, with municipal stakeholders acting as co-researchers. The aim of the project was to develop a tool that would help to measure and improve the governance, leadership, multisectoral action and accountability of two municipal health systems. The project used PAR for the development of the tool, including the co-selection of questions, rating criteria and the visual presentation of the tool. LSTM’s translational research process LSTM categorises the process of translating research findings into practical benefits for people living mainly in low and middle-income countries, into 5 stages: Discovery Development Implementation Evaluation & review Research uptake This pathway, leading from the field into the laboratory is often followed by taking the research back into the field again. Even during the initial laboratory phase, LSTM works together with its many overseas partners to deliver as much of the science locally in order to support high-quality research and capacity strengthening there where it matters most. The continuous search for, and development, of new products will help to improve prevention and treatment of many diseases and address global health issues. This, together with knowledge of their effective implementation and an understanding of their impact through monitoring and evaluation, aim to achieve the uptake of LSTM’s research outcomes into policies and practices, ultimately benefiting patients worldwide. Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to global health and community engagement. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| S10E4: Engaging children and communities for lung health - An octopus of methods! | 17 Dec 2022 | 00:24:38 | |
In this week's episode, we are talking to the Tupumue Project, who applied creative participatory methods alongside clinical data to understand how many children, in two communities in Nairobi, Kenya have lung problems, and to explore children's experiences of lung problems and air pollution. The project used a variety of creative research methods including drawings, drama, walking interviews with go pros, comics, graffiti and others. They even engaged children in co- analysis and theme development. Co-host for this episode, Dr. Hellen Meme, told us more about the programme; “The choice of the word “Tupumue” (meaning “lets breathe”!) as an identity of the program was because breathing is a function important to all. The Tupumue programme was a complex undertaking considering the broadness of the subject that was covered, in regard to establishing the burden of non-communicable lung diseases in school children and risk factors in both an informal and formal community context. The necessary skill pool had to be wide to achieve this and hence the broad collaboration involving a multidisciplinary team derived from several North and South institutions. For everyone to own the study, we held consultative meetings through which we established a niche for everyone to participate. We are in the process of widely disseminating our study findings and are currently sharing our results with all stakeholders including participating schools and the community in order to get their views on the findings before we engage policy makers”.
This episode features: Dr. Hellen Meme (co-host) - Chief Research Scientist, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Hellen Meme’s research work spans over 30 years and involves health and communities. Her research area of interest is in respiratory diseases with bias towards conducting research in congregate communities. This necessitates a broad skill base as well as innovation in planning approaches appropriate for project implementation. In this regard, engagement of community and other stakeholders is key. Dr Sarah West - Centre Director and Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York Sarah has been using citizen science approaches since she began work at SEI York in 2008, working on topics ranging from air pollution and biodiversity through to parenting and food waste. All her work uses citizen science approaches to engage a diverse range of people with research. She uses this approach because she believes that well designed projects can have huge benefits for advancing research and for making a difference for all those involved in projects. She also conducts research around the method of citizen science, looking at who is and isn’t participating in projects, and evaluating projects’ efficacy. Relevant links: https://www.sei.org/featured/citizen-science-month/ Fred Orina - Senior Research Scientist, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Fred’s interest is research implementation. He has 10 years’ experience in coordinating the implementation of human health research, with a focus on lung health studies in both static and nomadic communities. This involves liaising with communities and diverse stakeholders. With a scientific background, he acts as the interlink between the community, researchers, and the sponsor. Professor Graham Devereux - Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Graham is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine with research interests in the antenatal influences on the life course of airways disease and clinical trials in COPD. He is also an Honorary Consultant at Aintree University Hospital and spent 2020-2022 managing patients with COVID-19. His research into the life-course of airways diseases such as asthma and COPD has involved studies of large numbers of pregnant women, children and adults, originally in the UK, since his move to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine his work has involved large numbers of children and adults in Kenya and Malawi.
Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to health. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| S10E3: Health Systems Strengthening - Participatory Action Research in Guatemala | 02 Dec 2022 | 00:33:24 | |
In this episode we hear about a participatory action research project in Guatemala, funded by the Director's Catalyst Fund at LSTM, that co-designed a tool for health leaders and community partners to assess and improve urban health governance. The project was based in two Guatemalan urban municipalities; Villa Nueva and Mixco. We speak with Guillermo Hegel, the project lead who was also the Health Director at Villa Nueva Municipality at the time of the project. We also hear from Yaimie Lopez and Cintia Cansado who coordinated and evaluated the project. They share their experience of participatory research and working with policy makers. The research team together with co-researchers who were urban health stakeholders looked at 4 domains, Governance, leadership accountability and multi-sectoral action. They first defined what these terms were, then they co-analysed existing tools to measure governance performance and designed an online tool which could be used to rank current performance and areas for improvement which could then track over time. The tool involved a number of qualitative questions that required discussions and reflections about governance in their work and required a level of trust and transparency which is further explored by our guests. This Episode features: Wesam Mansour (co-host) - Health Systems Researcher, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineWesam is a Health System Researcher with research expertise in health workforce and health systems strengthening in fragile contexts using qualitative research and participatory action research approaches. Her work includes working in the areas of gender, equity and justice and how to apply those concepts to develop gender-equitable, resilient and inclusive health systems. She is currently working, in LSTM, on the ReBUILD4Resilience project which is health system research in Fragile and Shock-Prone (FASP) settings in 4 countries (Nepal, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, and Lebanon). In ReBUILD, they worked with the Close to Community (CTC) providers in FASP settings to explore how participatory action research can support CTC providers to address gender norms and power relations within their communities and in the health systems in Lebanon and Nepal. Links: Guillermo Hegel, Project Coordinator, INCAP Since 2020 Guillermo has been a researcher at CIIPEC. He coordinates a participatory action research project in collaboration with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. From 2014 to early 2020, he was health director of the municipality of Villa Nueva, Guatemala. A core part of his tasks was to articulate 'Health-in-All Policies' and to improve the primary health care system in urban setting through participatory processes. Between 2008-2013, he worked at PAHO/WHO Guatemala, as an advisor for social determinants of health and the ´Healthy Cities´ initiative, leading and contributing to several programs in Guatemala and Latin America. He began his career in public health in 2000, promoting small-scale projects at the community level with an environmental and inter-sectoral approach. Since 2016 Guillermo holds a master's degree in public health from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium, in addition to a previous master's degree in development (2011) and a BA in environmental science (2004), both from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. As of 2018 he is a member of Health Systems Global and Emerging Voices for Global Health. Yaimie López, Research Assistant, Centre for Health Studies, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala Yaimie is a biologist from Guatemala with research experience in vector borne diseases and strengthening of health systems. She has been involved in several quantitative research projects focused on the biological side of the diseases, and in one qualitative project to understand the perception of key actors involved. The qualitative project was done with the participatory action research methods, with municipal stakeholders acting as co-researchers. The aim of the project was to develop a tool that would help to measure and improve the governance, leadership, multi-sectoral action and accountability of two municipal health systems. The project used PAR for the development of the tool, including the co-selection of questions, rating criteria and the visual presentation of the tool. Ms Cintia Cansado-Utrilla, PhD student, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Cintia comes from a background in molecular biology. Her bachelor’s degree is in Biotechnology and her master’s degree is in Medical Parasitology and Entomology. Most of her expertise involves lab work with some field work in Guinea, studying mosquitoes. At the beginning of her PhD, she enrolled in an MRes in Global Health where she acquired translational skills and became interested in qualitative research. She had the opportunity to participate in the GOBLAR project with Kim, Guillermo, Yaimie and the rest of the participants and she cites it as a very positive experience for her. She believes there is a gap between basic and applied science, and although her PhD focuses on molecular biology of mosquitoes, she would like to incorporate some qualitative methods to her research to understand the perceptions of novel mosquito control methods from a community perspective and contribute to close this gap. For more information about the tool mentioned in this episode, see this video on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/nXxOoN74OAc Guillermo and Yaimie, who worked with Oscar (mentioned in the episode), pay tribute to their valued and much missed co-worker; “Oscar Hernandez was a medical doctor from Guatemala who died in 2020 while working in the front lines against the Covid-19 pandemic. He believed so much in his work that he had isolated from his family while working in the hospital to avoid infecting them. He was one of the first people to be on the participatory action research team and worked hard to lay the foundation of the project. Oscar was a highly energetic person, eager to learn. He knew how to see the bright side of difficult situations. He was very funny, always making jokes.” Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear our equitable global health research podcast connect discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change linked to health. If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| S10E2: HSR2022 Special - Strengthening Health Systems with Communities | 19 Nov 2022 | 00:36:22 | |
Our team of podcasters were roaming the halls of HSR2022, the Seventh Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, capturing the conversations ‘in the halls’ after the sessions, with a focus on community engagement. In this final HSR2022 episode, host Kim Ozano and guests share their thoughts and takeaways from the conference. Our host, Kim, presented at HSR2022 sessions as part of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s (LSTM) cohort. As LSTM mark 125 years of global health research and look to the next 125 years, she summarises the themes that reoccurred in conversation with other delegates and presenters. This Episode features:Host of Connecting Citizens to Science podcast: Dr Kim Ozano – Research Director, the SCL Agency Bea Egid (co-host) - MRC PhD Student, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Jhaki A. Mendoza – Research Associate, University of the Philippines Maria Van Der Merwe - Research Coordinator, VAPAR Vivek Dsouza – Research officer, Institute of Public Health, Bangalore Kara Hanson - Professor of Health System Economics and Dean, Faculty of Public Health & Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform to hear our equitable global health research podcast connect discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change linked to health. | |||
| HSR2022 Special - Conversations in the Halls (Episode 4) | 04 Nov 2022 | 00:19:37 | |
Our team of podcasters were roaming the halls of HSR2022, capturing the thoughts and takeways of the presenters and delegates after the sessions, with a focus on community engagement. In today’s special episode we have: Professor Anuj Kapilashrami – Professor in Global Health Policy & Equity, University of Essex Dr Reza Majdzadeh – Senior Lecturer in Global Public Health, University of Essex Dr Neethi V Rao – Consultant, WHOWe will compile and share further conversations and insights from the symposium over the coming weeks. Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform to hear our equitable global health research podcast connect discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change linked to health. | |||
| HSR2022 Special - Conversations in the Halls (Episode 3) | 03 Nov 2022 | 00:19:18 | |
Our team of podcasters are roaming the halls of HSR2022 to bring you the thoughts and takeways of the presenters and delegates after the sessions, with a focus on community engagement. In today’s special episode (capturing thoughts from 02/11/22) we have: Dr. Dheepa Rajan - Health Systems Adviser, WHO Dr. Anne Musuva – Country Director, ThinkWellRachael Farquhar – Senior Research Officer, Burnet InstituteMore conference coverage coming your way throughout the week! Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform to hear our equitable global health research podcast connect discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change linked to health. | |||
| HSR2022 Special - Conversations in the Halls (Episode 2) | 02 Nov 2022 | 00:18:11 | |
Our team of podcasters are roaming the halls of HSR2022 to bring you the thoughts and takeways of the presenters and delegates after the sessions, with a focus on community engagement. In today’s special episode we have: Dr. Lathadevi Chilgod – Public Health Researcher , Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, India Germań Alaracoń – Research Assistant, University College London & Universidad de los Andes Meena Putturaj – PhD Scholar, Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, India Daniela DaCosta – Epidemiologist, the Unit of Medical AnthropologyMore conference coverage coming your way throughout the week! Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform to hear our equitable global health research podcast connect discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change linked to health. | |||
| S10E1: Health Equity - Trust Communities and You Can Do Big Things | 02 Nov 2022 | 00:39:34 | |
We're really excited to be entering a new phase of the podcast series where we will be celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. To do this, we will be hosting conversations about the ways in which the Global South and the Global North have learned from each other and the valuable collaborations that have shaped global health policies and practices and continue to influence them. These conversations, will of course, have a specific focus on engaging with communities and people. This episode examines how The Liverpool Vaccine Equity project applied lessons learned from the Global South, specifically Kenya, to reduce vaccine hesitancy in Merseyside and how the methods have created a legacy that is improving uptake of other health services. The episodes guests: Amina IsmailCommunity Mobiliser, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Amina is a Community Mobiliser at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine working on the Liverpool Vaccine Equity Project. She is a qualified Primary teacher and understands the positive impact of supporting communities to address inequality. Amina has over 25 years’ experience in the UK and Saudi Arabia working with communities across both the education and health sector. She has supported multidisciplinary Community Innovation Teams (CITs) working in deprived areas of Liverpool to identify reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Amina has provided coaching and support to the Community Innovation Teams. She is committed to working with the CITs and engaging with different stakeholders to improve collaborative working reflective of a community-led approach to achieve vaccine equity. Relevant links: About The Liverpool Vaccine Equity project I did if for……photo exhibition Zakirya HassanCommunity Champion, Merseyside Somali and Community Association and Kaalmo Youth Development The aim of Zak's role is to reduce health inequalities and increase health equity and support his community. At Kaalmo Youth Development, Zak supports young people working as a sessional youth worker arranging trips, group activities and after school classes. He supports a community drop-in service held in the Merseyside Somali and Community Association helping people with benefits services, debt advice, support with translation and school admissions. Zak also runs his own organisation on the side Granby Toxteth Athletic a mental health sports organisation tackling mental health through physical activity they have as a walking club a football team and a basketball team. Relevant Links: Granby Toxteth Athletic Project Mandela OgucheProject Officer, Continuous Quality Improvement, LVCT Health Mandela serves as Project Officer for continuous quality improvement at LVCT Health Organisation based in Kenya, Kisii County. He has previously worked on mixed methods research projects around quality of care in community health programs in multiple low- and middle-income community settings. His work provides a unique platform that empowers community health workers, community health extension workers and peer educators to acquire feedback directly from the beneficiaries (clients) on how to improve quality health services at the community level. This enables improved access and provision of quality and equitable health service provision at the primary and secondary health facilities. He also worked as a Program Officer for 4byFour model; a maternal health system strengthening intervention which builds on the flagship SQALE quality improvement intervention. It combines quality improvement with roll out of antenatal facility point-of-care testing for HIV, syphilis, anemia and malaria, and community pregnancy testing and referral. He was part of the team that supported the success of USAID SQALE Program in Migori County. Relevant links: | |||
| Health Systems Financing in Fragile Settings | 27 Sep 2024 | 00:22:36 | |
In this episode, we examine the critical role of health systems financing, especially in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Our expert guests discuss how different governance challenges, external actors, and political landscapes shape health financing. We explore strategies to make efficient use of resources and ensure essential services for vulnerable populations. (See ‘useful links’ for links to the other 5 episodes from the series). Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction to the Podcast and Today’s Topic 01:00 – What is Health Systems Financing? 02:56 – Challenges of Health Financing in Crisis Situations 05:17 – The Role of External Actors in Health Financing 07:34 – The Complexity of Parallel Health Systems 09:30 – Financing for Long-Term Recovery 13:22 – Health Financing Innovations and Examples from the Field 17:26 – Advice for Improving Health Financing in Crisis Settings 20:34 – Final Thoughts and Next Episode Teaser In this episode: Dr. Maria Bertone – Reader, Institute for Global Health and Development, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh A health systems specialist with extensive experience in health financing, governance, and service delivery in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Dr. Awad Mataria - Director, UHC/Health Systems, WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Since his early life – born in a refugee camp and spending childhood under occupation – and throughout his professional career, Dr. Mataria developed a special interest in working in fragile and conflict-affected settings. He is an expert in health economics, focusing on conflict-affected settings and global health system reforms. Dr. Ibrahim Bou Orm – Lecturer, Institute for Global Health and Development, Queen Margaret University Edinburgh A leading expert in health systems and financing, with deep knowledge in governance and health system recovery in conflict-affected regions, particularly in the Middle East. Useful Links
Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about current research and debates within global health. The podcast covers topics like health systems strengthening, gender and intersectionality, tropical diseases (NTDs, TB, Malaria), maternal and child healthcare, mental health, vector-borne diseases, climate change, and co-production approaches. If you would like your project or programme to feature in an episode or miniseries, get in touch with the producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| HSR2022 Special - Conversations in the Halls (Episode 1) | 01 Nov 2022 | 00:21:01 | |
Our team of Connecting Citizens to Science podcasters are roaming the halls of HSR2022 to bring you the thoughts and takeways of the presenters and delegates after the sessions, with a focus on community engagement. In today’s special episode we have: Ibrahim Dadari - Immigration Specialist, UNICEF Sara Dada - PhD Candidate, University College Dublin Anna Socha – Health Policy & Systems Researcher, Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute Sarbani Chakraborty – Senior Programme Director, Mixed Health SystemsThese delegates share their thoughts and takeaways from some of the sessions held on 31/10/22. More conference coverage coming your way throughout the week! Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform to hear our equitable global health research podcast discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental well-being and climate change linked to health. | |||
| Urban Health - Community Based Participatory PhDs in Informal Settlements. | 24 Oct 2022 | 00:34:14 | |
In this week's episode, we will be hearing from two PhD students from the ARISE Consortium. ARISE stands for accountability and responsiveness in informal settlements for equity, and is about promoting social change for improved health and wellbeing with communities and people living and working within urban informal spaces. This episodes guests: Bachera AktarAssistant Director, The Centre of Excellence for Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (CGSRHR); and PhD student A public health researcher and academic with more than 13 years of experience of implementing community-based public health interventions and research in Bangladesh. An advocate of community/people-centric health interventions. The areas of her research interest and work include community-based participatory research, action research, health systems research, health and gender equity, socio-political determinants of health, and humanitarian health systems. Bachera works with marginalised communities living in informal urban settlements and humanitarian settings. Relevant information sources: Google Scholar - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ckDgGNcAAAAJ&hl=en Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bachera-aktar-bd/ ORCID: Bachera Aktar (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0242-1792) ARISE: www.ariseconsortium.org BRAC University - https://www.bracu.ac.bd/about/people/bachera-aktar Samuel SaiduCurrently, Samuel works on a project that is multi-country and focused on residents of informal settlements. In Sierra Leone, Samuel's project works within 3 communities where the research aims are to provide empowerment opportunities to community residents based on data-driven development. Samuel works with co-researchers (community residents who are now assistants to the research team) and are capacitated based on their various levels of education. They are involved in designing the study/research, data collection, analysis of data, and dissemination. The community people are the centre of the research in the sense that they are part of the research and play a key role at all levels. It is critical to know that the community people are part of the research team but are also participants. Relevant information sources: ARISE: https://www.ariseconsortium.org/news-events/ IDS: https://bulletin.ids.ac.uk/index.php/idsbo/article/view/3119 TWITTER HANDLES @samuelsaidu0 @AktarBachera @ARISEHub @UKRI_News @BRACJPGSPH @BRACUniversity @COMAHS_USL @GCRF @SclAgency This is a podcast is produced by The SCL Agency and is part of Connecting Citizens to Science which focuses on health research based on equitable partnerships between researchers and communities. If you would like to be a guest, co-host or have your own series designed for you, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We'd love to speak to you about your ideas! | |||
| S9E4 - Improving quality of ANC and PNC in Nigeria | 07 Oct 2022 | 00:39:52 | |
In this week’s episode we hear from Nafisa Musa Isa, Deputy Director Family & Community Health, Kaduna State, Nigeria, and Dr. Olubunmi Akinboye, Director Public Health, Oyo State Ministry of Health, Nigeria. Together with co-host Lucy Nyaga, we discuss the community structures that are being considered within the Global Funded ‘Quality Improvement (QI) of integrated HIV, TB, and malaria services in Antenatal and Postnatal care (ANC and PNC)’ programme. We learn about the importance of including community members on Quality Improvement Teams, the mechanisms that have been used by the programme to drastically improve uptake of antenatal and postnatal services through integration, mentorship and training and the value of considering culture and needs in implementation research. Dr. Olubunmi Olufunmilola Ayinde Director Public Health, Ministry of Health, Ibadan, Oyo State I am Dr. Olubunmi Ayinde a Public Health Physician and presently the Director Public Health at the Oyo State Ministry of Health. Over the past few years, I have worked in providing evidence-based, people-oriented, broad-based, purposeful, sustainable health care service delivery to strengthen Health Systems and ensure resilience; As well as leading cross-functional teams to consistently meet key program deliverables, while delivering efficient, affordable, accessible, effective and equitable services to the people across different communities. I coordinated the state HIV/AIDS program for over 12 years. I also had the opportunity to oversee malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and Reproductive Health activities which includes cervical cancer prevention (by screening for early detection across communities), ensuring testing for HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis in Antenatal care services. I presently lead the implementation of quality improvement with integration of HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria at the state level which was initially achieved by collaboration with AFENET, but is presently being achieved by collaboration with LSTM. I am also the coordination Pillar lead for COVID-19 in the State. I successfully administered different HIV surveys as well as Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) distribution across all communities in the State. Community participation and engagement of key community stakeholders was a major part of the process to ensure full participation, service utilization and sustainability. This also reflected in the different community outreach services conducted across the state such as cervical cancer screening for community women and civil servants, HIV testing for pregnant women with ensuring linkage to treatment and acceptance of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC). Nafisatu Musa Isah Deputy Director Family and Community services (in charge of Maternal and Child health division) Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board. I am a registered Public health nurse by profession with a master’s degree in Reproductive Health, and a member of Public Health Nurses of Nigeria, member National Association of Nurses and Midwives of Nigeria. I also had professional Development certificates in: Leadership and Management in Global Health, Project Management in Global Health, Management Skills and Effective Leadership, Leadership Enhancement and accountability for Public sector, Health Financing, Health Economic and Public Health Policy also held the position of Chief Nursing officer in charge of 6 primary health care(PHCs) facilities in Kaduna State. I have attended 30 training/Workshops and carried out 5 research projects www.kdsg.gov.ng https//m.facebook.com/KSPHCA Twitter: @NafisatMusaIsah1, @contactkdsg, @mlgkad Lucy Nyaga Country Director, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Kenya My name is Lucy Nyaga. I am the Country Director, Liverpool School of Tropical medicine, in Kenya. I have a background in Medical Anthropology and Public Health with extensive experience in promoting implementation of research results into policy and practice with a special focus on MNH. With twenty years’ experience working in health programming, my experience and expertise in MNH has involved managing and implementing programmes that incorporate implementation research to inform effective programming and policy influence. Working with a range of organizations ranging from governments, academic and research institutions, UN agencies, and national & INGO, I have led and contributed to key MNH research that has led to policy influence in Eastern Africa. https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/about/people/lucy-nyaga https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-nkirote-2062832b/ TWITTER HANDLES @Lucynnyaga @MOH_Kenya Read along to the transcript here | |||
| S9E3 - Improving the Quality of ANC and PNC in Tanzania | 29 Sep 2022 | 00:40:45 | |
In this episode, the focus is on Tanzania. Together with co-host Lucy Nyaga, we have conversations with Dr Ahmad Makuwani, Assistant Director, Reproductive Health & Child Health, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Tanzania, Dr Leonard Katalambula, Head of Department of Public Health, University of Dodoma and Dr Rukia Bakar Rajab, Dean, School of Medicine, State University of Zanzibar. We discuss how the programme ‘Quality Improvement (QI) of integrated HIV, TB, and malaria services in Antenatal and Postnatal care (ANC and PNC)’ funded by the Global Fund and Takeda Pharmaceuticals uses a blended learning and master training approach to improve the skills, practice and attitudes of health workers within women and newborn health services. We hear how much community engagement is valued by the Ministry of Health and how the programme will ensure sustainability through partnerships with universities, multilevel health system and communities. Dr. Leonard Katalambula Dr. Leonard Katalambula is PhD holder in public health and head of public health department at the University of Dodoma. He has over 14 years’ experience in teaching research and consultancy related to public health. He is a project lead of the Quality Improvement for Integrated HIV, TB and Malaria Services during Antenatal and Postnatal care in Tanzania, The project is funded by Global Fund and implemented by LSTM, Ministry of Health and the University of Dodoma. Dr Katalambula is also a principal investigator of the project “Meals Education and Garden for School in Adolescents. He has been engaged in several implementation research including Effectiveness of letter and brochure and brochure to a male partner on increasing women’s uptake of cervical cancer screening in Bahi, Dodoma: A randomized controlled trial. Effectiveness of a community-based intervention (Konga model) in addressing the factors contributing to viral load suppression among children living with HIV in Tanzania: A cluster-randomized clinical trial study. Dr Katalambula is a champion of a youth club at the University of Dodoma whose main objective is to promote health among youths especially reproductive health. Dr. Rukia Rajab Bakar Acting Dean, School of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Health and Medical Sciences, State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) Connects research/implementation with people and communities is very important through working in partnership with policy makers, local leaders and communities. This will definitely improves the quality of maternal and new-born health care and reduce maternal morbidity or mortality in the community. Lucy Nyaga Country Director, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Kenya My name is Lucy Nyaga. I am the Country Director, Liverpool School of Tropical medicine, in Kenya. I have a background in Medical Anthropology and Public Health with extensive experience in promoting implementation of research results into policy and practice with a special focus on MNH. With twenty years’ experience working in health programming, my experience and expertise in MNH has involved managing and implementing programmes that incorporate implementation research to inform effective programming and policy influence. Working with a range of organizations ranging from governments, academic and research institutions, UN agencies, and national & INGO, I have led and contributed to key MNH research that has led to policy influence in Eastern Africa. https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/about/people/lucy-nyaga https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-nkirote-2062832b/ TWITTER HANDLES @Lucynnyaga @MOH_Kenya Read along to the transcript here | |||
| S9E2 - Improving the Quality of ANC and PNC in Kenya | 20 Sep 2022 | 00:32:14 | |
In this week's episode co-host Lucy Nyaga, together with guests Amina Baraka, a Nursing Officer in charge of Vihiga County Referral hospital and Fatuma Iman, a Reproductive Health Coordinator in Garissa County discuss their involvement in the ‘Quality Improvement (QI) of integrated HIV, TB, and malaria services in Antenatal and Postnatal care (ANC and PNC)’ programme funded by the Global Fund with funding from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The project is supporting 61 health facilities across 3 counties to provide capacity building, mentorship and to generate evidence to inform decision-making and policymaking to support improvements of maternal, new-born and child quality of care. Lucy Nyaga Country Director, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Kenya My name is Lucy Nyaga. I am the Country Director, Liverpool School of Tropical medicine, in Kenya. I have a background in Medical Anthropology and Public Health with extensive experience in promoting implementation of research results into policy and practice with a special focus on MNH. With twenty years’ experience working in health programming, my experience and expertise in MNH has involved managing and implementing programmes that incorporate implementation research to inform effective programming and policy influence. Working with a range of organizations ranging from governments, academic and research institutions, UN agencies, and national & INGO, I have led and contributed to key MNH research that has led to policy influence in Eastern Africa. https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/about/people/lucy-nyaga https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-nkirote-2062832b/ TWITTER HANDLES @Lucynnyaga @MOH_Kenya Amina Anyango Baraka Nursing manager Vihiga County Referral Hospital In Vihiga County Referral Hospital we offer a range of reproductive health services to the women and their families. These include antenatal care during pregnancy, intrapartum care, and postnatal care to include contraceptive use. Despite all these interventions, the data available still show that a large number of maternal and neonatal deaths occur during birth and 48 hours after. The major causes of the mortalities being hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and haemorrhage. The audits have showed that in many circumstances either there is delay in seeking the needed care or delay in the health facility to initiate the appropriate interventions. In this regard the provider ability to do correct diagnosis and intervene appropriately is key. Thus we regularly do training needs assessment to ascertain the provider gaps. In the community we hold dialogue days and verbal autopsies to determine the possible causes of ill health and mortalities and factors influence the uptake health services. Fatuma Iman Maalim Mrs. Fatuma Iman Maalim holds a Master of Science Degree in Community Health & Development and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. She has 35 solid years of experience working with the Ministry of Health - Kenya, 18 Years’ experience working in Maternal Newborn Health programme and 1 year in ANC/PNC programme. Mrs. Fatuma, is the County Reproductive Health Coordinator Garissa. She overseas and coordinates Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Gender Mainstreaming services in the entire county. She is a Master trainer, a Manager, a Mentor & a Decision maker. She is also the focal person of the World Bank’s Transforming Health Systems for Universal Care (THS-UC) Project. Before devolution Fatuma was the Provincial Reproductive Health Coordinator, covering the entire Garissa, Wajir and Mandera districts. Garissa County is among the most underdeveloped counties in Kenya, with the highest Maternal and Neonatal mortality burden of 646 out of 100,000 and 24 out of 1000 respectively (KDHS 2019). Personal Twitter handle - @fatmaimaan1 Organisation Twitter handle - @garissahealth Articles – Core authored a cross – sectional study on “The determinants of staff retention after Emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care training in Kenya.” BMC Health Services Research (2022) 22:872. https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-022-08253-2 Research Paper:- Knowledge, perceptions and practices on utilization of maternal waiting-homes among women of reproductive-age in Garissa township constituency Garissa County (2018) To listen to the audio along with the transcript click here | |||
| S9E1 - Implementation Research and capacity strengthening for ANC and PNC | 10 Sep 2022 | 00:37:46 | |
In this week’s episode we hear from Dr. Leonard Katalambula, the project lead of the ‘Quality Improvement for Integrated HIV, TB and Malaria Services during Antenatal and Postnatal care’ in Tanzania and Dr Uzochukwu Egere, Senior Research Associate, Emergency Obstetric and Quality of Care Unit at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). Together with co-host Lucy Nyaga, Country Director at LSTM Kenya, our guests discuss the scope of implementation research under the Global Fund programme, the institutional research collaborations and capacity strengthening opportunities, and the benefits of the programme to communities. Lucy Nyaga Country Director, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Kenya My name is Lucy Nyaga. I am the Country Director, Liverpool School of Tropical medicine, in Kenya. I have a background in Medical Anthropology and Public Health with extensive experience in promoting implementation of research results into policy and practice with a special focus on MNH. With twenty years’ experience working in health programming, my experience and expertise in MNH has involved managing and implementing programmes that incorporate implementation research to inform effective programming and policy influence. Working with a range of organizations ranging from governments, academic and research institutions, UN agencies, and national & INGO, I have led and contributed to key MNH research that has led to policy influence in Eastern Africa. https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/about/people/lucy-nyaga https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-nkirote-2062832b/ HASHTAGS
TWITTER HANDLES @Lucynnyaga @MOH_Kenya Dr Uzochukwu Egere Senior Research Associate (M&E and Data management), Emergency Obstetric and Quality of Care Unit, Liverpool school of Tropical Medicine I am primarily a paediatrician with extensive research experience and interest in Implementation research and health systems strengthening in the areas of Maternal and Child health, Lung health and Tuberculosis. My work focusses on health and health systems challenges relevant to low-and middle-income settings and facilitates interactions between researchers and consumers of research outputs (the community) to ensure timely policy change and uptake of interventions. https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/about/people/dr-uzochukwu-egere Dr. Leonard Katalambula Dr. Leonard Katalambula is PhD holder in public health and head of public health department at the University of Dodoma. He has over 14 years’ experience in teaching research and consultancy related to public health. He is a project lead of the Quality Improvement for Integrated HIV, TB and Malaria Services during Antenatal and Postnatal care in Tanzania, The project is funded by Global Fund and implemented by LSTM, Ministry of Health and the University of Dodoma. Dr Katalambula is also a principal investigator of the project “Meals Education and Garden for School in Adolescents. He has been engaged in several implementation research including 'Effectiveness of letter' and 'brochure' and 'brochure to a male partner' on increasing women’s uptake of cervical cancer screening in Bahi, Dodoma: A randomized controlled trial. Effectiveness of a community-based intervention (Konga model) in addressing the factors contributing to viral load suppression among children living with HIV in Tanzania: A cluster-randomized clinical trial study. Dr Katalambula is a champion of a youth club at the University of Dodoma whose main objective is to promote health among youths, especially reproductive health. | |||
| S8E6 - Essential Care Package for Integration of Mental Health and Neglected Tropical Diseases | 08 Sep 2022 | 00:32:20 | |
This week’s episode features Philip Ode, a Programme Officer/Mental Health Focal Point from CBM Global Disability Inclusion, Nigeria and Tarry Asoka, a consultant in health and development. Together with co-host Tosin Adekeye, they discuss the development and delivery of an essential care package for integration of mental health and Neglected Tropical Diseases, including how communities and people affected have been involved. Dr. Oluwatosin Adekeye Assistant Director of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry Ahmadu Bello University Hospital Zaria Kaduna A social scientist with varied experience in both clinical and research aspects of health among communities in Northern Nigeria. As a Clinical Psychologist, his work has been both on mental and behavioral disorders and the effects of chronic disease on the well-being of patients and caregivers. As a Social Scientist, he just concluded a study that documented the well-being of people with stigmatizing skin diseases and established a care and support group within the community. More recently he is working on developing a well-being tool for parents and children with disability. Twitter: @TosinOluw, @Sightsavers Tarry Asoka Consultant in Health & Development , Independent Consultant Tarry Asoka is a Medical Doctor with advanced training and qualifications in Health, Population and Nutrition, as well as Social Science Research. Besides providing technical assistance in number of health and health related areas, he is passionate about testing and implementing ‘models of care’ - service delivery reforms that re-organise health service around people’s needs and expectations. In particular, Tarry has a keen interest in organisational innovations within the health system that demonstrate competency in managing and delivering care for specific groups (such as persons with chronic health conditions) or whole population characterised by a combination of four essential elements: providing the right service, in the right setting, by the right person, using the right processes. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarry-asoka-401008175/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/re-imagining-community-health-global-south-tarry-asoka/ Asoka, T. (2016a) Imagining a new future for healthcare services in Nigeria. Africa Health (Nigeria Edition). 38 (3): 6 - 8 http://africa-health.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/AH-Nigeria.pdf Asoka, T. (2016b) Feasibility of Managed Clinical Networks in Nigeria: a case of policy transfer to less advanced settings. [Doctoral thesis] Keele: Keele University http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/2368/1/AsokaDBA2016.pdf Philip Ode Programme Officer/Mental Health Focal Point, CBM Global Disability Inclusion, Nigeria Philip is an experienced social development worker, specialising in projects/programmes management focused on inclusive community development and the public health concerns of marginalized and underserved populations. He has a strong grounding in project management, having worked consistently in the development space for 15 years. He is an expert in the design and implementation management of health and social development programmes that promote inclusion of marginalized communities in low resource settings.
Twitter: @PhilOde, @CBM_Global, @CBMuk, @CBMAustralia, @julian_eaton, @gracekryan | |||
| S8E5 - Engaging with governments to integrate NTD and mental health services | 02 Sep 2022 | 00:35:41 | |
This episode features Emerson Rogers, the NTD case management lead in the Ministry of Health Liberia and Eric Whey, the mental health and psychosocial coordinator for Grand Bassa County Health Team, Liberia. Together they discuss how Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and mental health services are being integrated at the primary health care level and the importance of advocating for sustained services for tackling mental health more generally. Tosin Adekeye, our co-host for this series discusses the cultural, logistical and community aspects that are being considered and the lessons that could be applied in other similar contexts. Dr. Oluwatosin Adekeye Assistant Director of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry Ahmadu Bello University Hospital Zaria Kaduna A social scientist with varied experience in both clinical and research aspects of health among communities in Northern Nigeria. As a Clinical Psychologist, his work has been both on mental and behavioral disorders and the effects of chronic disease on the well-being of patients and caregivers. As a Social Scientist, he just concluded a study that documented the well-being of people with stigmatizing skin diseases and established a care and support group within the community. More recently he is working on developing a well-being tool for parents and children with disability. Twitter: @TosinOluw, @Sightsavers Eric T. Weah Mental Health and Psychosocial support pillar lead for EBOLA and the COVID 19 RESPONSE, lecturer at the Grand Bassa Community College. The mental health department (MHD) is part of the community health department and works with programs to consider a more holistic biopsychosocial approach. This approach seeks to look at the psychological impact that a condition will have on an individual, the family, the community and society at large. It also provides services for the vulnerable groups such as people living with disability, those in prison and at-risk youth. The mental health department also developed the user group and collaborative approach with faith based organisation, traditional healers and religious leaders to help in improve mental health care. The MHD also works with the Community Health Focal persons to ensure community health workers identify, follow up and refer cases to service delivery point for management. Emerson Rogers National Coordinator for Case Management of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Management Committee member- REDRESS Ministry of Health, Liberia Mr Emerson Rogers has a key role in the Management Committee of REDRESS providing ongoing guidance and support as the National Coordinator for Case Management NTDs in Liberia. He manages the coordination of all Case Management, project planning, implementation, supervision, research, and timely reporting of progress. Enforcing strategies to ensure adherence to timely interventions for NTDs. Emerson has 14 years’ experience working as a Ministry of Health clinician in Liberia in several hospitals. He served as Clinical Coordinator at the National Ebola Treatment Unit and served as Master Trainer Team Lead for Keep Safe Keep Serving. Emerson served as National Program Director for the Men’s Health Screening Program- MOH between 2015-2017. He worked alongside WHO and CDC UK and was responsible for conducting Real Time PCR testing of the semen of Ebola survivors to determine it contained fragments of the virus and therefore help to get a better understanding of the persistence of the virus in the semen of male survivors. Twitter: @redress_liberia | |||
| S8E4 - Improving mental health services for people affected by NTDs: Perspectives of community health workers in Liberia | 31 Aug 2022 | 00:24:08 | |
In this week’s episode we hear from two community health workers about the work they have been doing to improve mental health services for people affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as part of the REDRESS programme in Liberia. Satta Sonnie Kollie in Lofa County, Liberia is a community health services supervisor and peer researcher; and Harrison Wenjor in Grand Gedeh, Liberia is the focal person for TB and people affected by NTDs. They discuss the importance of using local dialect, and being a trusted member of the community, especially when talking about mental health and providing counselling to people affected by chronic health conditions. Satta Sonnie Kollie Community health services supervisor and coresearcher, Government of Liberia – Lofa County/REDRESS I am Satta Sonnie Kollie from Lofa County, Liberia. I am Community health services supervisor and coresearcher. I am responsible to supervise the Community health assistants under clinic, give health education to our people in the communities, increasing facility delivery and also making our various communities to know the importance of their good health. D. Harrison Wenjor Former Focal Person for TB, Grand Gedeh, Formerly Government of Liberia – Grand Gedeh County/REDRESS D. Harrison Wenjor has spent many decades working in community health in Grand Gedeh. He worked as the focal person for TB and has worked closely with people affected by various neglected tropical diseases. He is passionate about community health and improving access to health, particularly for the most marginalised. https://www.redressliberia.org/ Twitter: @REDRESS_Liberia Transcript available here | |||
| S8E3 - Being a co-researcher with lived experience of an NTD: ‘I was very much proud’ | 19 Aug 2022 | 00:21:22 | |
In this week's episode we hear from Emmanuel Zaizay who is a peer researcher in the REDRESS programme and is affected by Buruli Ulcer, a neglected tropical disease. He shares with us the value of learning new skills, through becoming a co-researcher, which has helped him better connect with his community and contribute to the improvement of medical and psychosocial services for people living with NTDs. Emmanuel Zaizay Co-researcher, REDRESS I am Emmanuel Zaizay from Lofa County, Voinjama District. I work with REDRESS as a coresearcher and I was recruited as a patient affected person as I was diagnosed with Buruli ulcer. I also serve as a data collector, I work in photovoice settings and participatory methods such as bodymapping and focus group discussions. Currently, I am with the coresearcher team in Lofa County. https://www.redressliberia.org/ Twitter: @REDRESS_Liberia Fasseneh Zeela Zaizay REDRESS Country Director, Actions Transforming Lives/REDRESS Mr Fasseneh Zeela Zaizay serves as the Liberian Country Program Manager for REDRESS, providing overall management for the project in Liberia. Zeela holds B.Sc. in Nursing (Magna Cum Laude), master’s in public health, Diploma of Advanced Studies in Health Care Management, and certificate in monitoring and evaluation. Zeela co-designed Cuttington University’s clinical outreach program and served as its coordinator as well as lectured nursing for 7 years. Before joining REDRESS, he served as the Liberian Country Director of MAP International and Technical Assistant to the Ministry of Health. In those roles, he engaged in strengthening the Liberian health system, supporting the integration of NTDs into the health system, and conducting research on health system strengthening and NTDs. He is a co-creator of the Liberian Strategic Plan for the Integrated Management of NTDS. He is a co-founder of Actions Transforming Lives, a registered Liberian charity and partner on REDRESS also providing financial and technical support to the Ministry of Health NTDs Program, as well as giving less fortunate communities access to safe water and improved livelihoods. https://www.redressliberia.org/about-us/people/actions-transforming-lives/fasseneh-zeela-zaizay/ Twitter: @REDRESS_Liberia Twitter: @FZZaizay | |||
| Migration, Displacement and Health Systems | 23 Aug 2024 | 00:24:45 | |
In this fifth episode of our six-part miniseries (see notes for 'useful links' to other episodes), we examine the intersection of migration, displacement, and health systems in fragile settings. With over 1 billion people on the move globally, including 84 million forcibly displaced, this episode addresses the challenges and opportunities that migration presents to health systems. Our co-host, Dr. Joanna Raven, joins us alongside Professor Fouad Fouad and Dr. Santino Severoni, to share their experiences and insights on how health systems can respond to the needs of migrants and refugees through integration, cultural changes, and evidence-based practices. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the discussion on migration, displacement, and health systems resilience in fragile settings 01:00 Meet the Experts: Professor Fouad Mohammad Fouad and Dr. Santino Severoni 02:56 Global Migration and Displacement: Setting the Scene 07:56 Challenges Faced by Health Systems 09:13 Integration and Parallel Health Systems 13:11 WHO's Role and Strategic Approaches 17:11 Examples of Good Practices from Different Countries 21:48 Final Thoughts and Advice for Future Work 24:12 Conclusion and Next Episode Teaser In this episode: Dr Joanna Raven - Reader in health systems, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Jo has worked in global health for more than 25 years, focusing on strengthening health systems. Jo is a researcher with a passion for co-designing and implementing health system research with local stakeholders including community members, health workers, health managers and decision makers. As a health worker herself, Jo’s work focuses on supporting the health workforce to deliver people-centred care that is of good quality and leaves no one behind. Dr. Fouad Fouad - Professor of Global Health and Social Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Fouad has extensive research on migration and health, focusing on multidisciplinary approaches to forced displacement, health systems in humanitarian settings, and the political economy of health in protracted crises. Fouad is also the IDRC Chair of the Forced Displacement Program in the Middle East and the Co-Director of the Refugee Health Program at the Global Health Institute. His role as a member of several technical working groups, including the WHO Global Consultation on the Health of Migrants and Refugees and the Global Research Agenda on Health and Migration, underscores his expertise and influence in the field. Fouad served as a commissioner in the UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health (2018) and is currently a commissioner in the Lancet Commission on Health, Conflict, and Forced Migration. Dr. Santino Severoni - Director of the WHO Department of Health and Migration, World Health Organization Dr. Severoni is the Director of the Department of Health and Migration at WHO headquarters in Geneva. With over 24 years of experience, he has held senior roles at the WHO Regional Office for Europe and worked globally in health sector reforms, system strengthening, and complex emergency management. His career includes serving as WHO Representative in Albania and Tajikistan. Since 2011, he has focused on public health aspects of migration, leading efforts to implement global migration and refugee compacts and coordinating WHO’s first World Report on the Health of Refugees and Migrants. Useful links
Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about current research and debates within global health. The podcast cuts across disciplines, including health systems strengthening, gender and intersectionality, tropical diseases (NTDs, TB, Malaria), maternal and child healthcare (antenatal and postnatal care), mental health and wellbeing, vector-borne diseases, climate change and co-production approaches. If you would like your project or programme to feature in an episode or miniseries, get in touch with the producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| S8E2 - ‘I survived!’ Conquering HIV and AIDS, TB, Cancer and Meningitis in Uganda | 10 Aug 2022 | 00:41:44 | |
In this thoroughly engaging episode, we hear from Dr.Steven Watiti who works for Mildmay Uganda, a leading HIV and AIDS service organisation, about living and aging with HIV and AIDS. Steven shares his story of family life, courage, loss, survival, learning, and advocacy. He speaks about the importance of mental health support and social capital when living with a lifelong health condition and calls for others to respond. Dr Steven Watiti Patient representative on Respond-Africa Partnership After studying Medicine at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, Dr. Watiti, was a medical officer, Rubaga Hospital, Kampala from 1985-1988. He practiced medicine privately from 1988-2004 at Entebbe Road clinic and JOY Medical Centre Ndeeba, Kampala. From 2004, he has been working at Mildmay Uganda, a leading HIV and AIDS service organisation. An HIV activist and ardent advocate for improved and sustainable health for all, Dr. Watiti believes with hindsight that he acquired HIV between 1985 and 1986 while working as a junior medical officer. In 2000, he began ARVs after contracting tuberculosis, cancer (Kaposi’s sarcoma), and meningitis. In 2006, he started his weekly column on HIV in New Vision, Uganda’s leading daily newspaper. His column appears Mondays under the heading: “Towards zero: with Doctor Watiti”. He has published two books on HIV: “HIV and AIDS: 100 Commonly Asked Questions” and “Conquering HIV and AIDS: My personal experience of living with HIV”. Dr Waititi works with the Respond Africa partnership as an expert patient ensuring that patient needs, views and voices are heard and considered and addressed when designing and implementing research projects. Twitter: @WatitiStephen Dr. Rhona Mijumbi-Deve Dr. Rhona Mijumbi-Deve is a senior lecturer of public policy at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and heads the Policy Unit at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Clinical Research Programme in Blantyre, Malawi. Rhona trained as a medical doctor and later as a Clinical Epidemiologist and Biostatistician, and health policy analyst. She has spent the past decade doing health systems and policy research. Her special interest is in exploring the nexus of evidence, and policy and decision-making processes, especially in low- and middle-income countries. She especially is interested in understanding this in the contexts of emergencies, health security and health diplomacy. | |||
| S8E1- Supporting the Mental Wellbeing of People Affected by Chronic Health Conditions - Acting for Change | 03 Aug 2022 | 00:34:23 | |
In this episode, we hear from Dr Rugema Lawrence from the University of Rwanda and Dr Julian Eaton from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and CBM Global Disability and Inclusion. Together they discuss the links between stigma, discrimination, mental wellbeing and chronic health conditions including Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), how these issues are currently being addressed with communities and the importance of ensuring mental health is part of an essential care package. Guest host for this series Dr. Oluwatosin Adekeye Assistant Director of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry Ahmadu Bello University Hospital Zaria Kaduna A social scientist with varied experience in both clinical and research aspects of health among communities in Northern Nigeria. As a Clinical Psychologist, his work has been both on mental and behavioral disorders and the effects of chronic disease on the well-being of patients and caregivers. As a Social Scientist, he just concluded a study that documented the well-being of people with stigmatizing skin diseases and established a care and support group within the community. More recently he is working on developing a well-being tool for parents and children with disability. Twitter Links: @TosinOluw @Sightsavers Dr Julian Eaton Mental Health Director at CBM Global and Assistant Professor at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Julian Eaton is the Mental Health Director for CBM Global Disability and Inclusion. He works with a team focused on improving access to care and support, and promoting the voice of people with psychosocial disabilities in low and middle income countries. He is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Global Mental Health at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he is currently leading a number of research projects looking at strengthening community-based mental health care, reform of public mental health systems in Africa, and Neglected Tropical Diseases. He leads the Mental Health Innovations Network at LSHTM, and is Chair of the Bond International NGO Mental Health Group. Julian trained as a psychiatrist in London where he now works, after living and working in West Africa between 2003 and 2017. CBM Community Mental Health homepage: https://cbm-global.org/what-we-do/community-mental-health Blog on community participation: https://cbm-global.org/blog/patient-and-communities-at-the-centre SUCCEED homepage: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/succeed
Twitter: @julian_eaton @CBM_global @MHInnovation.net @GMentalHealth @LSHTM @SUCCEEDAfrika Dr. Lawrence Rugema Lecturer, researcher and Consultant University of Rwanda – School of Public Health Dr Rugema Lawrence is a public health professional at the University of Rwanda. Most of his research work has focused on mental health and reducing stigma related to mental illness. Currently he co-leads implementation research on Podoconiosis in Rwanda under NIHR funded Global Research Unit on Neglected Tropical Diseases in collaborator with the Brighton Sussex Medical School. In this particular research, community health workers are critical to in reducing podoconiosis related stigma. Coordinate rapid community health needs assessment through outreach program to inform policy. | |||
| S7E4 - The East African citizens' perspective on NCDs | 27 Jul 2022 | 00:37:27 | |
In this week's episode we hear from Detricia Pamba, a patient advocate for people living with diabetes and Prof Kaushik Ramaiya from Shree Hindu Mandal Hospital, Tanzania. Together they paint a vivid picture of what life is like for people living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in East Africa and what is needed to improve long-term, ‘humanised’ care for patients living with NCDs. Detricia Pamba Multi-Media Journalist, Editor and Content Creation Executive, Mwananchi Communications Ltd Detricia Pamba is the Content Creation Executive at Mwananchi Communications Ltd, Editor for Mwananchi Scoop and Features writer for The Citizen. Her journalism experience extends on health, business and money management, women and youth, with a mix of arts and entertainment. She is a Type 1 Diabetes patient since 2011 who advocates for the awareness of diabetes in Tanzania through her writings. www.linkedin.com/detriciapamba www.instagram.com/detriciapamba @detriciapamba Prof Kaushik Ramaiya CEO, Shree Hindu Mandal Hospital, Tanzania Professor Ramaiya has been actively involved in research on diabetes for many years and specialised, among other topics, on glucose tolerance and cardiovascular disease risk factors and mainly focused on Indian communities living in Africa. At present, Professor Ramaiya is working with children who have Type 1 diabetes, gestational diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular complications of antiretroviral drugs in HIV/AIDS and Diabetes/TB interaction. As part of the Respond Africa Partnership,, he is working on CD NCD Integration models (MOCCA Study) and will be overseeing metformin intervention in HIV patients with IGT (META Trial). | |||
| S7E3 - Engaging with East African governments to address NCD care | 20 Jul 2022 | 00:36:26 | |
In this weeks episode we have a conversation with Professor Sayoki Mfinanga, Director and Chief Research Scientist for NIMR Muhimbili Cenre, Honorary Professor of Global Health at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salaam, and Adjunct Professor at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha. Professor Sayoki shares key learning about:
Professor Sayoki Mfinanga Director and Chief Research Scientist, National Institute of Medical Research, Muhimbili Cenre Tanzania Professor Mfinanga is the Director and Chief Research Scientist for NIMR Muhimbili Cenre, Honorary Professor of Global Health at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Honorary Lecturer at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Dar es Salaam, and Adjunct Professor at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania. He is leading several scientific research networks in Africa. He is Deputy Director-of Respond Africa, as well as Deputy Director for Afrique one ASPIRE consortium, and Coordinator of TB node of excellence in East Africa under East Africa Consortium for Clinical Research (EACCR2). https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/about/people/dr-sayoki-mfinanga | |||
| S7E2 - The economic impact of NCDs on East African communities | 14 Jul 2022 | 00:33:13 | |
In this week's episode, we will be talking about the economic impact of non-communicable diseases or NCDs on east African communities. Guests include Dr. Steven Waititi, a Patient representative on Respond-Africa Partnership and author of “Conquering HIV and AIDS: My personal experience of living with HIV” and Josephine Birungi, a Senior Research Scientist based at Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute (MRC/UVRI) in Entebbe. They discuss:
Dr Josephine Birungi Senior Research Scientist, MRC +UVRI& LSHTM Uganda Research Unit Dr Josephine Birungi is a Senior Research Scientist based at Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute (MRC/UVRI) in Entebbe. She is currently working on a number of research project within the Respond Africa Partnership, as study lead in Uganda. Projects include INTEAFRICA which is evaluating a novel approach of integrated clinical management of HIV-infection, diabetes, and hypertension in Tanzania and Uganda and INTECOMM which is evaluating community based integrated care for people living with HIV, Diabetes and Hypertension. @josephinebirun1 Dr Steven Watiti Patient representative on Respond-Africa Partnership After studying Medicine at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, Dr. Watiti, was a medical officer, Rubaga Hospital, Kampala from 1985-1988. He practiced medicine privately from 1988-2004 at Entebbe Road clinic and JOY Medical Centre Ndeeba, Kampala. From 2004, he has been working at Mildmay Uganda, a leading HIV and AIDS service organisation. An HIV activist and ardent advocate for improved and sustainable health for all, Dr. Watiti believes with hindsight that he acquired HIV between 1985 and 1986 while working as a junior medical officer. In 2000, he began ARVs after contracting tuberculosis, cancer (Kaposi’s sarcoma), and meningitis. In 2006, he started his weekly column on HIV in New Vision, Uganda’s leading daily newspaper. His column appears Mondays under the heading: “Towards zero: with Doctor Watiti”. He has published two books on HIV: “HIV and AIDS: 100 Commonly Asked Questions” and “Conquering HIV and AIDS: My personal experience of living with HIV”. Dr Waititi works with the Respond Africa partnership as an expert patient ensuring that patient needs, views and voices are heard and considered and addressed when designing and implementing research projects. @WatitiStephen | |||
| S7E1-Embracing the challenge of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in the East African communities | 06 Jul 2022 | 00:40:25 | |
In this series we are talking about responding to the challenge of non-communicable disease in East Africa together In recent decades, rates of non-communicable diseases (NCD), such as diabetes and high blood pressure have risen sharply in sub-Saharan Africa and are now linked to approximately 2 million deaths per year. Countries across the continent are rapidly looking to address this new epidemic, but this is difficult with much of the healthcare system still focused on the treatment of communicable disease, such as HIV. This podcast series will explore many aspects of the problems related to NCDs across sub-Saharan Africa, including how African & European researchers from the RESPOND-Africa group, and healthcare providers and governments in East Africa are working with local communities to better understand the issues related to NCDs and how we can best address their care. In particular, we’re interested in how integrating the care of NCDs with other, currently well treated conditions, like HIV can benefit the patients and local healthcare systems by improving care whilst saving them both time and money. In this week’s episode we hear from Dr Flazia Zalwango from the Medical Research Council/ Uganda Virus Research Institute and LSHTM and from Dr Anu Garrib, a consultant in public health medicine working at LSTM in the RESPOND Africa/NIHR Group for the prevention and management of HIV-infection and non-communicable diseases. Our guests discuss:
Our guest host for this series is Dr Joseph Okebe Senior Research Associate, LSTM My research looks at how primary healthcare services for people living with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, HIV-infection and hypertension can be improved. We recently completed a study in Tanzania and Uganda where we looked at the impact of having all these services together in the same clinic affect patient’s retention in care and control of their health conditions. https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/about/people/dr-joseph-okebe twitter@ jo_okebe Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-okebe-a049399/ Dr Anu Garrib Principal research associate, RESPOND-Africa partnership, LSTM I am a consultant in public health medicine and have been working at LSTM in the RESPOND Africa/NIHR Group for the prevention and management of HIV-infection and non-communicable diseases in Africa since 2017. My current research focusses on evaluating strategies for the integrated delivery of HIV and non-communicable disease care, as well as clinical studies on the prevention of diabetes. The study on integration of HIV and NCD services was a feasibility study aimed at determining if an integrated delivery of care for these conditions was acceptable to patients and healthcare workers, and involved extensive engagement with these groups to determine how best to structure the service. Although the clinical trial is a very different kind of study, the continued engagement of patients is critical as we try to determine how best to support patients so that they are able to continue the trial treatment for an extended period. Wider communication within the community and engagement with community leaders about aims of the trial is really important to pre-emptively address concerns that patients and their families may have about participation in a trial such as this. These are ongoing conversations. Care for non-communicable diseases is lifelong and what we learn in trials about supporting patients with adherence to treatment will be valuable, regardless of the outcome of the trial itself. Dr Anupam Garrib | LSTM (lstmed.ac.uk) Welcome and meet the team | LSTM (lstmed.ac.uk) Twitter: @AnuGarrib Ms Flavia Zalwango Social Scientist, Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and LSHTM Over the last 14 years, I have undertaken research involving women at high risk of HIV and STIs, older adults, adolescents and children, focussing particularly on the impact of HIV on their lives and the management of HIV as a chronic condition. I am currently involved in conducting research on integration of NCD and HIV care at selected clinics in Uganda. I work with a team of researchers who interact directly with the patients, healthcare providers, community leaders, and policy makers in order to generate the evidence at a multi-stakeholder level. We are also working closely with our collaborators from the UK. Twitter: @KabuyeFlavia | |||
| S3E6 - Mary Mpakibi, A journey of strength, courage, and leadership from a TB survivor | 05 Jul 2022 | 00:41:45 | |
In this episode we hear from Mary, a TB survivor who shares her inspirational journey from initial sickness to embarking on multiple complex treatments, lengthy isolation, recovery and finally to unending dedication to offer support, positivity and hope for others living with TB. Key learning and lessons in this story for researchers, policy makers and global health planners. Mary Mpakibi Retention Officer and TB expert champion, Kawempe Home Care My name is Mpakibi Mary, am 28 years and currently staying in Kyebando, Kawempe Kampala Uganda. I am working at Kawempe Home Care (KHC) as a Retention Officer and TB expert champion. KHC is a community Based Organisation caring for people living with HIV/AIDS, TB cancer and other health related illness. I also work as a cab, Community Advisory Board member with Makerere Lung Institute and a member of Uganda Country Advisory Group (UCAG) under the Light TB project bridging the gap between researchers, health facilities and the communities. Some of my contribution are attributed to TB case notification through contact tracing and Community sensitization and screening which contribute to the Total TB cases identified at Kawmpe Home Care and other health facilities as shown in reports attached to the links https://treattb.org/2019/03/08/mary-mpakibi-from-stream-uganda-tells-her-story/ https://kawempehomecare.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/KHC-Annual-Report-2019-20-Final-1.pdf https://twitter.com/Lung_Institute?t=xTdKZpZ7fLqnDdA4FtANIQ&s=08 https://twitter.com/StopTB?s=08 https://twitter.com/search?q=USAID%20ON%20TB&t=Xlb1A5FcSzFUGCoyJza87Q&s=08 | |||
| S6E3 - Gendered dynamics of the Covid-19 pandemic | 16 Jun 2022 | 00:32:08 | |
On this episode we are delighted to be joined by Dr Brunah Schall, post-doctoral researcher at Fiocruz Minas in Brazil, and Dr Julia Smith, assistant professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada. We hear from our speakers about the gendered dynamics of the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on research which has been conducted in Brazil and Canada as part of the multi-country Gender and Covid-19 project. We cover topics including:
Dr Brunah Schall Postdoc, Fiocruz Minas Brunah is a biologist with a PhD in Sociology from Brazil. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Fiocruz Minas, working on projects on gender and health, especially the international project Gender and Covid-19, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Her research focuses on women from vulnerable settings in urban and rural communities in Brazil, highlighting the effects of the pandemic in their livelihoods, food security and overall health with the purpose of connecting them with policy makers.
https://www.genderandcovid-19.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/gender-and-race-on-the-frontline.pdf Dr Julia Smith Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University Dr Julia Smith is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. She has a PhD in Social and International Studies from the University of Bradford, where she also completed her Masters of Arts as a Rotary World Peace Fellow. Her research interests centre on gender-based policy analysis of health crises, commercial and political determinants of health, feminist theory and community-based research. She is currently a Principal Investigator on the Gender and COVID-19 Research Project, which is conducting gender-based analysis of the response to COVID-19 in multiple countries and is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Canadian Institutes for Health Research. She has also led research on the intersections of health and development, funded by SSHRC, and contributed to the Global Tobacco Control Project at SFU, funded by CIHR and the US National Institutes of Health Research. Dr. Smith has taught classes in both the Faculty of Health Sciences and Department of Political Science at SFU. She is a board member of Women Transforming Cities, volunteers with Mosaic, and has worked with community-based organizations in Canada, Europe and Africa.
https://www.genderandcovid-19.org/ https://www.sfu.ca/fhs/about/people/profiles/julia-smith.html | |||
| S6E2 - Participatory research with vulnerable populations: a spotlight on research with women who have survived trafficking | 09 Jun 2022 | 00:31:28 | |
Featuring guest speakers Dr Bintu Mansaray, Lead Research Consultant at the Institute of Gender and Children’s Health Research in Sierra Leone, and Dr Tara Tancred, a senior research associate at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, in today’s episode we hear about doing participatory research with highly vulnerable populations, focusing on women who have survived trafficking and the importance of centering their voices in research processes. Listen to find out about:
Dr Bintu Mansaray Lead Research Consultant, Institute of Gender and Children’s Health Research Bintu Mansaray is a medical doctor, and a paediatrics public health specialist. She currently works as a social scientist for the Institute of Gender and Children’s Health Research in Sierra Leone whilst completing her PhD at the University of Bristol on the Multisectoral responses to sexual abuse in Africa. Bintu’s research is focused on children’s health and well-being and sex trafficking in Africa. She has published three children’s public health books on COVID-19, Malaria and Type 1 Diabetes to help Africa’s children learn about these illnesses affecting them. Bintu is particularly interested in building bilateral and mutually beneficial relationships with organisations and research institutions to end child slavery and sex trafficking. Dr Tara Tancred Senior Research Associate, LSTM Tara Tancred is a social scientist working for the Centre for Capacity Research at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Much of her research centres on improving the quality and patient-centredness of sexual and reproductive healthcare in low-resource settings. To this end, she has extensive experience supporting different participatory research approaches, driving co-researcher-led and contextually appropriate changes to support implementation of evidence-based practice. She has a particular interest in supporting capacity strengthening for implementation research, especially amongst co-researchers. | |||
| S5E4 - Climate change and vector-borne disease: A call for greater cross disciplinary research | 31 May 2022 | 00:36:40 | |
In this week’s episode we focus on climate change and its impacts on malaria specifically. Our guests Remy Hoek Spaans from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Clinton Nkolokhosa from the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme (MLW) will be discussing the effect of floods in Malawi created by extreme weather events and their impact on malaria. Our guests talk about:
Remy Hoek Spaans PhD candidate, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine I am currently working on malaria epidemiology in Malawi, with a focus on environmental and climatological drivers. My most recent project, for which field work has just been completed, will look at the impact of flooding on malaria epidemiology. One of the first noticeable effects of climate change will be an increase in extreme weather events. In March 2019, Cyclone Idai had a devastating impact on the population of southern Malawi. I would like to understand how the spatial distribution of malaria cases has changed in response to the floods in an agricultural landscape. I have access to routinely collected daily health records and satellite imagery to investigate this at a fine scale. With an increase in extreme weather events in the future, it is crucial to learn how this will affect malaria transmission, to build resilient health systems. https://rstmh.org/about-us/who-we-are/student-ambassadors/remy-hoek-spaans https://twitter.com/remyhs?lang=en https://rstmh.org/news-blog/blogs/world-malaria-day-early-career-grant-research-into-malaria https://www.linkedin.com/in/remyhoekspaans/?originalSubdomain=nl Mr Clinton Nkolokosa Masters fellow, Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme (MLW) Clinton Nkolokosa is a MSc Fellow within the Vector Biology group at Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome, Blantyre Malawi. Clinton’s current project which is being funded by the Wellcome Trust, is titled Measuring the impact of past, present and future environmental changes on schistosomiasis transmission in southern Malawi. Overall, his work is focuses on advanced spatial analysis in environmental and health, and in the intersection of these research areas. This includes the application of remote sensing in crisis mapping and predictive environmental modelling to uncover snail-schistosome distribution and dry season malaria transmission in a changing climate. His particular focus is using cutting-edge geospatial statistical tools to help improve capacity for prevention, preparedness and response to public health, climate and environmental risks. - https://www.mlw.mw/student-profiles/clinton-nkolokosa-pre-msc-intern-junior-researcher/ - Environmental drivers of malaria transmission in Kasungu (https://rpubs.com/Clinty/786191) - Impacts of climate-related disasters such as floods in lower Shire (https://arcg.is/1K5jrX0 and https://nkolokosa.shinyapps.io/FloodMapper/?_ga=2.268629302.615703065.1643593552-679779059.1640993443 | |||
| Non-state and informal actors in fragile settings | 02 Aug 2024 | 00:18:42 | |
In this episode, we explore the critical role of non-state actors and informal providers in health systems within fragile settings. Our guests share insights on the legitimacy, roles and challenges of informal and non-state actors. This is the fourth episode in the six-part miniseries "Stories of Resilience: Local Lives and Health Systems," brought to you by ReBUILD for Resilience (see ‘useful links’ for links to the other episodes from the series). Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Connecting Citizens to Science 00:14 Overview of ReBUILD for Resilience 00:31 Non-State Actors and Informal Providers in Health Systems 01:12 Introducing the Guests 02:31 Understanding Non-State and Informal Actors 03:19 Current Situations in Myanmar and Sierra Leone 04:59 Roles and Impact of Informal Providers 07:59 Challenges and Coordination in Crisis Situations 14:02 Advice for Improving Health Systems in Fragile Settings 18:04 Conclusion and Final Thoughts In this episode: Dr. Karin Diaconu - Reader, Research Lead, Institute for Global Health and Development Karin is a health policy and systems researcher interested in how to achieve better health outcomes for disadvantaged groups and persons living in fragile, conflict affected and vulnerable settings. She has been involved with the ReBUILD for Resilience programme since it began and is interested in understanding how communities and health systems can better work together to support health, particularly in situations where communities have often been disempowered due to longstanding crises. Dr. Kyu Kyu Than - Research Director, Burnet Institute Myanmar Kyu Kyu is a health system researcher from Myanmar who is passionate about advocating for gender-equitable and inclusive healthcare access for the most vulnerable population. She is currently a Research Director at Burnet Institute Myanmar and is also one of the Principal Investigator for the ReBUILD consortium. Her expertise and leadership in public health have earned her recognition both nationally and internationally, making her a pivotal figure in shaping health policies and initiatives in Myanmar. She is a researcher who is well known for her dedication and courage towards health policy shift for the health care workers in the least developed communities. Ayesha Idriss - Principal Investigator, ReBUILD for Resilience - Sierra Leone, Institute for Development (IfD) Ayesha is a seasoned pharmacist, dedicated educator, and accomplished multidisciplinary researcher. As the research lead at the Institute for Development (IfD) for the ReBUILD for Resilience programme, Ayesha focuses on strengthening health systems in fragile and conflict-affected states. Her research addresses critical health challenges in Sierra Leone, including non-communicable disease interventions, Community Health Workers (CHW) motivation and health policy implementation. Pursuing a PhD in Global Health at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, her doctoral research enhances healthcare delivery in diverse communities, including the informal health sector, emphasising culturally sensitive approaches. Ayesha’s work bridges research and practice, fostering positive change in healthcare systems and promoting equity in access to healthcare services. Useful Links;
Want to hear more podcasts like this? Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the ways that researchers connect with people to co-produce solutions to global challenges. The podcast cuts across disciplines, including health systems strengthening, gender and intersectionality, tropical diseases (NTD’s, TB, Malaria), maternal and child healthcare (antenatal and postnatal care), mental health and wellbeing, vector-borne diseases, climate change, Participatory Action Research (PAR), co-production and participatory methods - all linked to community inclusion, engagement and shifting power dynamics. If you would like your project or programme to feature in an episode or mini-series, get in touch with the producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency. | |||
| S6E1 - Menstrual exclusion in Nepal: challenging stigma and driving change | 27 May 2022 | 00:35:38 | |
In this episode we are joined by Dr Sara Parker, Reader in Development Studies at Liverpool John Moores University and Professor Madhusudan Subedi from the Patan Academy of Health Sciences and the Tribhuvan University in Nepal, who will be talking to us about their work on women’s reproductive health and dignity in Nepal, with a focus on understanding menstrual stigmas and engaging with communities to challenge practices of menstrual exclusion. We talk about:
Dr Sara Parker Reader in Development Studies, Liverpool John Moores University Sociology Sara Parker is Reader in Development Studies in the Sociology Department at Liverpool John Moores University. She has over 30 years of action research experience in Nepal following on from her PhD on non-formal education and women’s participation. She has led a number of research initiatives in Nepal including Higher Education links between the UK, Nepal and Bangladesh with a focus on gender and education. She is committed to collaborative action research and is currently leading the BA/GCRF funded ‘Dignity Without Danger’ research project exploring menstrual stigma and taboos. This project connects researchers in the UK and Nepal to NGOs and activists in Nepal to deepen understating of the complexities of menstrual discrimination. The research project also has a strong emphasis on working with local communities and utilises creative means to produce policy recommendations and creative visual outputs that can be used as advocacy tools. She is an active member of the Menstrual Health and Hygiene Partnership Alliance in Nepal and is co-editing a book on Menstruation in Nepal to be published by Routledge India. She has recently been elected as the Chair of the British Nepal Academic Council BNAC and is a committee member of the Britain and Nepal NGO network BRANNGO. She also advises on a number of NGO boards including Elevate Nepal. Sara has co-authored papers and articles as well as written a children’s book focusing on fair trade and Nepal. Staff profile LJMU Sara Parker | Liverpool John Moores University (ljmu.ac.uk) DWD Social media @DWDNEpal Instagram DwD Nepal (@dignitywithoutdanger) • Instagram photos and videos Twitter Dignity Without Danger (@DWDNepal) / Twitter Facebook (13) Dignity Without Danger: Menstruation in Nepal | Facebook @LJMUSociology Qualitative Analysis in Action | Liverpool John Moores University (ljmu.ac.uk) Blogs on Menstruation in Nepal https://www.elevatenepal.org/blog/menstrual-taboos-nepal/ https://www.unialliance.ac.uk/2018/03/08/pressforprogress-on-periods-in-nepal/ Prof. Madhusudan Subedi University Teacher and Researcher, School of Public Health, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Nepal Central Department of Sociology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal Co-Investigator of the BA/GCRF funded project "Dignity Without Danger: Collaboratively Analysing Stigma and Taboos to Develop Innovative Strategies to Address Menstrual Exclusion in Nepal” that focuses on the intractable global challenge of promoting women’s right to sexual and reproductive health and dignity. We are working with academics, NGO partners and researchers working in the field of menstrual health on the ground, to build research capacity in Nepal, and co-design the research process by embedding training into the plan of action. We have been exploring the origins, diversity and impacts of local, social, religious and cultural menstrual practices in Nepal which deny women and girls the right to a healthy and dignified menstruation. There is no one all-encompassing single narrative on menstruation across the 125 caste and ethnic groups in Nepal and this project will research experiences across these many ethnic groups by focusing on lived experience in diverse contexts. To challenge menstrual stigma throughout Nepal a deeper understanding of the diverse menstrual practices and their underlying concepts is required. This will support the development of strategies to address the stigma and taboos surrounding menstruation. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wtGcLhkAAAAJ&hl=en | |||
| S5E3 - Climate change solutions in The Gambia: Coproduction approaches with pregnant women, schoolchildren and farmers | 19 May 2022 | 00:41:33 | |
In this week’s episode we hear from Dr Ana Bonell and Dr. Aliyu Nuhu Ahmed from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine about environmental degradations from climate change that impact health in The Gambia. The expected increase in heat and reduced rainfall in The Gambia is one of the most significant health threats caused by climate change. However, little is known about the gendered dynamics of exposure and response to heat stress; changes in land use and transmission of zoonotic diseases and children’s ideas for the future. Our guests discuss how they are engaging communities in identifying solutions to climate change impacts on health and hear about:
Dr Ana Bonell, Clinical Research Fellow Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Dr. Ana Bonell is a Wellcome funded Clinical Research Fellow working on maternal health and climate change. She has training in epidemiology, tropical medicine and advanced physiology. She is particularly interested in the nexus between climate change, maternal health, occupational heat stress and agriculture. Her research focuses on pregnant subsistence farmers in West Africa and the impact of maternal exposure to high ambient temperature, the physiological response to that stress and the impact that has on fetal health and wellbeing. Additionally she is interested in connecting with, learning with and from the youth on climate problems and solutions to the current crisis. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.785254/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.784915/full https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.31.22273092v1 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3965382 Dr. Aliyu Nuhu Ahmed, PhD Student Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Rapid changes are occurring in agricultural systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Land-use changes, market dynamics, agricultural policy, environmental factors, cultural habits, and technology are all influencing and affecting crop farming techniques and animal husbandry for both commercial and subsistence purposes. However, the effects of these changes on zoonotic disease risk remain largely unknown, particularly in the world's poorest communities, where there is rising recognition that zoonotic illnesses have a significant impact on health and livelihoods. A better understanding of the mechanism by which environmental degradation endangers human health, especially in rural communities, will inform ways to optimise zoonotic disease risk mitigation and promote sustainable land-use that is more environmentally friendly. | |||
| S5E2 - Climate change and citizen science approaches for addressing flooding and waterborne hazards in Ethiopia | 12 May 2022 | 00:41:22 | |
In this week’s episode we hear about citizen science approaches for tackling flooding and waterborne hazards in Ethiopia. Our guests Dr Alemseged Tamiru Haile, Senior Researcher from the International Water Management Institute and David Warne, Professor of Environmental Systems Modelling from Newcastle University are part of the GCRF Global Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub. Their work with citizen scientists aims to improve awareness and action on flooding risks and waterborne hazards in Ethiopia through co-creation of knowledge and development of new management systems for water. Our guests will share the value of citizen science approaches from enhancing community understanding of their environment to resolving data gaps for risk assessment, modelling, and better decision-making. They share with us:
Dr Alemseged Tamiru Haile Senior Researcher, International Water Management Institute Dr. Alemseged Tamiru Haile is Senior Research of hydrology and hydrological modelling at International Water Management Institute (IWMI). He earned his PhD in Spatial Hydrology at University of Twente, The Netherlands. He is leading and contributing to several research projects that aim to improve water security, fill hydrological data gaps and improve flood risk management. Alemseged enjoys sharing experience with early carrier researchers and students. https://www.watersecurityhub.org/resources/citizen-science-bottom-management-shallow-groundwater https://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/2020/10/can-citizen-science-help-to-fill-hydrology-data-gaps-in-ethiopia/ Dr David Werner Professor Environmental Systems Modelling, Newcastle University Dr. David Werner is Professor of Environmental Systems Modelling at Newcastle University, UK. He earned his PhD in Environmental Sciences at EPFL in Switzerland. He works with colleagues and communities in Africa, South America, and Asia towards ubiquitous genomics in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation for all. This includes the co-development and testing of a suitcase laboratory for water quality testing. David enjoys doing fieldwork with his colleagues and students, and life-long learning about the wonders of nature and human follies. https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/staff/profile/davidwerner.html | |||
| S5E1 - Affordable and clean energy for improved health and climate action: Considering Sustainable Development Goals | 05 May 2022 | 00:32:42 | |
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 states that we need to “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”. The consideration of energy is a central focus for climate change experts as it is responsible for “nearly three-quarters of global emissions”, with energy consumption being one of the biggest sources of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. SDG7 calls for “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. Its core target includes: Ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services. In this week's episode we will be focused on learning about renewable energy and the links between sustainable development goals such as health and poverty alleviation. We will hear from guests how they are working with people and communities to adapt to cleaner energy whilst considering the impacts on other SDG goals. Flavia Ajambo from CREEC and Professor Jon Lovett from Leeds University share:
Our co-host for this series Dr. Ajay Bhave Core Research Fellow - Water Security and Sustainable Development Hub, Newcastle University I am an interdisciplinary environmental scientist who uses methods from different disciplines to explore how to identify and prioritise actions and plans for adapting to a changing climate. I use scenarios and decision making under uncertainty approaches to co-produce knowledge with wide-ranging stakeholders regarding potential futures and adaptation options. Currently, he collaborates with researchers and stakeholders in Malawi, India, Malaysia, Colombia and Ethiopia to explore the diverse decision contexts, contextual priorities, climate change risks, and adaptation options. After receiving the Jawaharlal Nehru Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, he has worked at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, and the University of Leeds. Profile: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/engineering/staff/profile/ajaybhave.html Publications: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=55584569800 Twitter: @ajay_bhave Flavia Ajambo is a Ugandan communication expert that has for 9years worked closely with renewable energy experts to influence the adoption of renewable energy technologies. On identifying the different patterns on how people absorb information and how it influences their adoption of clean energy, Flavia has worked closely with industry sector players to encourage and develop content packaged into movies, long foam content on YouTube, carousels, tv and radio drama series. These have demonstrated how renewable energy can be utilized and it’s benefits and has helped to drive impact towards the adoption and optimum utilization of renewable energy technologies. Professor Jon Lovett is Chair of Global Challenges in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds. He started working with engineers on renewable energy whilst leading the Technology and Sustainable Development group at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. This work led to collaborations on energy and Sustainable Development Goal 7 in Uganda, Tanzania, Congo Brazzaville, Nepal, Indonesia and Nepal. On moving from Twente to Leeds he developed a project on ‘Energy Gardens’ in Nepal funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. This then led to a series of projects with the partners in Africa on capacity building, micro-grids and biogas with support from the Royal Society, Engineering and Physical Science Research Council and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Massive open online course on bioenergy with CREEC: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/renewable-energy-achieving-sustainability-through-bioenergy Kampala TV series Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Kampalatvseries | |||