Connecting Citizens to Science

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 MedicineIn 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 KadunaA 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, NigeriaDr 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...

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...

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 Medicine Wesam 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:LSTM - Wesam MansourReBUILD Consortium ReBUILD - Gender ProjectGuillermo 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...

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, VAPARVivek 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. 

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 AyindeDirector 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 IsahDeputy 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...

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 BakarActing 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 NyagaCountry 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 

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 NyagaCountry 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 BarakaNursing manager Vihiga County Referral HospitalIn 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)...

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 andDr 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 NyagaCountry 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 Primary Hashtag: #KML_MNHQoC Other Hashtags: #MaternalHealth #NewbornHealth #MNH #SDG3 #MNHCommunity #AcceleratingTogether #SavingLivesTogether #Antenatal #Postnatal #MNH policy #EffectiveANC&PNC #EquityANC&PNC TWITTER HANDLES @Lucynnyaga @MOH_Kenya Dr Uzochukwu EgereSenior 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...

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 MedicineAmina 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 projectProjectApproach (video)I did if for……photo exhibition 22 Vaccination StoriesZakirya HassanCommunity Champion, Merseyside Somali and Community Association and Kaalmo Youth DevelopmentThe 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 ProjectMandela OgucheProject Officer, Continuous Quality Improvement, LVCT HealthMandela 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...

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 AdekeyeAssistant Director of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry Ahmadu Bello University Hospital Zaria KadunaA 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, @SightsaversTarry AsokaConsultant 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/race-onhow-community-health-being-integrated-primary-care-tarry-asoka/?trackingId=6M%2FpXWSKQi6b6hP1OM7uQw%3D%3D  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 OdeProgramme 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...

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 AdekeyeAssistant Director of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry Ahmadu Bello University Hospital Zaria KadunaA 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, @SightsaversEric T. WeahMental 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 RogersNational 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 

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 WenjorFormer 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

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 ZaizayCo-researcher, REDRESSI 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_LiberiaFasseneh Zeela ZaizayREDRESS Country Director, Actions Transforming Lives/REDRESSMr 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 

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 WatitiPatient representative on Respond-Africa PartnershipAfter 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 https://inteafrica.org/ Dr. Rhona Mijumbi-DeveDr. 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. 

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 seriesDr. Oluwatosin AdekeyeAssistant Director of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry Ahmadu Bello University Hospital Zaria KadunaA 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@SightsaversDr Julian Eaton Mental Health Director at CBM Global and Assistant Professor at London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineJulian 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 @SUCCEEDAfrikaDr. 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.  

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 PambaMulti-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 https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/magazines/health-/living-with-type-1-diabetes-detricia-s-story-3875928 https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/magazines/success/what-you-need-to-know-about-online-privacy-3557866 @detriciapambaProf Kaushik RamaiyaCEO, 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).  https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/about/people/dr-kaushik-ramaiya https://inteafrica.org/ 

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:  engaging with East African governments to address NCD care expert patients who have suggested new ways of working that have challenged professionals to rethink their knowledge base the importance of strengthening primary health care.   Professor Sayoki MfinangaDirector 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  https://inteafrica.org/ 

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: Financial/economic barriers for patients and communities affected by NCDs What having an NCD means for patient finances How integrated care addresses these problems Dr Josephine BirungiSenior 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. https://inteafrica.org/ @josephinebirun1 Dr Steven WatitiPatient representative on Respond-Africa PartnershipAfter 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. https://inteafrica.org/ @WatitiStephen 

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: Barriers to engaging community groups across the life cycle, including children, adolescents, and older people to inform prevention, treatment and management of disease conditions like NCDs.  How to best engage policy makers in research uptake  The problem of NCDs in sub-Saharan Africa and how they are being addressed currently How communities can be involved in addressing the problem of NCDs going forward Why and how can integrated NCD & HIV benefit these communitiesOur guest host for this series is Dr Joseph OkebeSenior 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 GarribPrincipal research associate, RESPOND-Africa partnership, LSTMI 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...

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:  The economic impact of the pandemic on women, who took on a disproportionate amount of unpaid care work and took longer to re-enter the workforce  Female health workers’ experiences of racism, misogyny, stigma and violence on the frontline How research from the Gender and Covid-19 project is influencing policy across countriesDr Brunah SchallPostdoc, Fiocruz MinasBrunah 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/2021/10/PAC00487_Gender-Covid-19-Brazil-food-insecurity-English.pdf https://www.genderandcovid-19.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/PAC00519_Gender-Covid-19-Health-Workers-Brazil-1.pdf https://www.genderandcovid-19.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/gender-and-race-on-the-frontline.pdf https://www.genderandcovid-19.org/resources/the-pandemic-response-plan-in-brazil-must-include-a-critical-perspective-on-gender-and-race-2/ https://www.genderandcovid-19.org/editorial/water-is-life-the-struggle-of-quilombola-women-for-access-to-water-in-the-midst-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-brazil/ Dr Julia SmithAssistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser UniversityDr 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...