The aim of CHANGE is to address alcohol misuse and associated adversities among conflict-affected populations in Uganda and Ukraine. CHANGE seeks to further develop Problem Management Plus (PM+), an evidence-based psychological intervention designed for people with psychological distress who are exposed to adversity. We will complement PM+ by adding an additional psychological component addressing alcohol misuse.  

CHANGE is a partnership between HealthRight International Uganda, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla, the University of Copenhagen, and WordsHelp Ukraine. CHANGE applies a participatory research approach with key stakeholders and conflict-affected populations involved in the development and implementation of the intervention.

GOAL is a three-year GCRF-funded research project which seeks to support government and partners in strengthening the ability of health systems to meet the mental health needs of refugee and host communities affected by protracted displacement, focusing on Lebanon. It is a collaboration between the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the National Mental Health Program of Lebanon, St. Joseph’s University of Beirut, Abaad, War Child Holland (Lebanon office), and Positive Negatives.

Funder: Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)

Dates: 1 February 2020 to 31 January 2023

CGCC staff involved: Bayard Roberts (PI), Adrianna Murphy, Daniela Fuhr, Martin McKee.

Dates: May 2018 – April 2023
Funder: European Union Horizon 2020
Staff: Harry Rutter, Cecile Knai, Natalie Savona

Description

CO-CREATE is using a complex systems approach to understand how different societal factors, stakeholders and institutions associated with obesity interact at various levels, and the implications these have on policy and young people. The researchers will work with adolescents to create, inform and disseminate proposals for policies to tackle obesity among their peers. This will be done through a participatory process of identifying and formulating relevant policies, assessing the options with other actors, promoting relevant policy actions and developing tools and strategies for implementation. LSHTM is working across the whole project, and responsible in particular for running one of the core fieldwork packages: generating systems maps with adolescents, policy-makers and other experts on the drivers of obesity, using tools from complex systems science.

Collaborators

FOLKEHELSEINSTITUTTET (Norway), UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM (Netherlands), UNIVERSITETET I OSLO  (Norway), WORLD OBESITY FEDERATION  (United Kingdom),  LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE  (United Kingdom), UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN (South Africa), Centro de Estudos e Investigação em Dinamicas Sociais e Saúde (Portugal), World Cancer Research Fund International (Belgium), EAT Stockholm Food Forum AS (Norway), University of Texas Health Science Center at Houson (United States), Press (Norway), UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN (Norway), SWPS UNIWERSYTET HUMANISTYCZNOSPOLECZNY (Poland), DEAKIN UNIVERSITY (Australia)

The CO-CREATE project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme for Sustainable Food Security under grant agreement No 774210.

Staff: Neil Pearce

Description: This work is needed to better understand the aetiological mechanisms of asthma and to identify new causes and new treatments. Five centres are involved in the study; Bristol (UK), Wellington (New Zealand), Salvador (Brazil), Esmeraldas Province (Ecuador), Entebbe (Uganda). Detailed information will be collected from 200 asthmatics and 50 non-asthmatics in each centre, including sputum and nasal samples, blood samples, lung function and skin prick testing. Children and adolescents will be enrolled in all centres except Bristol where participants will be 26-27 years old. The key features of this study are the inclusion of both high and low prevalence centres in both high income and low-and-middle income countries, more detailed biomarker information compared to previous studies and new bioinformatics methods for integrating and analysing data.

Dates: December 2016 – 2019
Staff: Neil Pearce

Description

Chronic kidney disease of an undetermined cause (CKDu) is estimated to have led to the premature deaths of hundreds of thousands of young men and women in low and middle income countries over the last two decades. It has been primarily linked to an epidemic of fatal illness among sugar cane workers in Central America but there is currently no standardised data to enable comparison and understanding of the causes and common factors compared with other parts of the world. DEGREE provides a simple set of tools which researchers can use anywhere to quantify the distribution of estimated Glomerular Filtrate Rate (eGFR) – an estimate of kidney function – using cross-sectional surveys in a representative sample from populations thought to be at risk of disease.

Collaborators

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, La Isla Foundation (La Isla Network)

TOwards imProved screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer In All of Europe

Dates: September 2015 – August 2020
Funder: European Commission
CGCC staff involved: Martin McKee, Keti Glonti

The EU-TOPIA study is carried out in partnership with: Erasmus University, Netherlands; Cancer Society of Finland; City of Health and Science University Hospital of Turin, Italy; The Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, Slovenia; Health Development Institute, Estonia; and Syreon Clinical Research, Hungary.

The EU-TOPIA team

The study will systematically evaluate and quantify the harms and benefits of current programmes for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer in all European countries, and identify ways to improve health outcomes and equity. Using quality indicators, outcomes and cost-effectiveness of existing cancer screening programmes in 2015 will be estimated. Models of the natural history of the cancers will be constructed using country-specific data, and barriers to implementation identified. Road maps for change with capacity for self-evaluation of screening will be built using web-based tools. The project aims to reduce inequity, number of cancer deaths and over-diagnosed cases, and increase life years gained and improve cost-effectiveness by 2025.

Creating the building blocks for better treatment and control of non-communicable diseases among poor and vulnerable households in Malaysia and the Philippines

Dates: September 2016 – August 2020
Funder: Wellcome Trust/Newton Fund-MRC Humanities & Social Science Collaborative Award
CGCC staff: Martin McKee, Dina Balabanova, Benjamin Palafox

The project will provide the knowledge needed to overcome health system barriers to optimal management of hypertension in Malaysia and the Philippines, which is now a major cause of disability and premature death despite being easily detected and treated. Yet although evidence on its clinical management is universal, to overcome the health systems barriers, especially those faced by the poor, local knowledge is needed. This, in turn, requires local capacity in health systems research and knowledge transfer. The project will use a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to understand barriers to hypertension control faced by low-income households. We will use innovative open-source mobile technology to capture participant-generated content (audio, text, video, etc.) on their lived experience in real-time, coupled with panel surveys of households, and assessment of formal and informal providers.

Collaborators

University of the Philippines – Manila, College of Medicine and UCSI University (Malaysia)

Dates: 2017-2021
Funder: European Commission
CGCC staff: Bayard Roberts

The Centre for Global Chronic Conditions is a partner in a new five-year European Commission funded research project called STRENGTHS led by Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam which seeks to strengthen mental health care for Syrian refugees in Europe and in countries neighbouring Syria.

The current refugee crisis across Europe and the Middle East effects refugees’ psychological well-being, as they face extreme stressors in their flight from their home country and lives in new countries, but also has large effects on the healthcare systems of countries housing refugees. In response to this crisis, STRENGTHS aims to provide a framework for scaling-up the delivery and uptake of effective community-based mental health strategies to address the specific needs of refugees within and outside Europe’s borders. STRENGTHS will outline necessary steps to integrate evidence-based low-intensity psychological interventions (PM+) with refugees for common mental disorders into health systems in Syria’s surrounding countries (Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan) and Europe (Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden).

The programme of work includes conducting randomised control trials of PM+, and associated implementation science and economic evaluation of scaling-up PM+. The consortium is a unique partnership between academics, NGOs, international agencies and local partners with the responsibility to provide and scale-up evidence-based mental health and psychosocial support interventions for refugees.  Bayard Roberts (CGCC) is leading a work package examining the responsiveness of health systems to the scaling-up of PM+ across the study countries. Research methods include rapid appraisals of health systems, cross-sectional population-level surveys, and in-depth qualitative research.

For further information contact: Bayard Roberts.

Lead: Laura Woods

The purpose of this research is to provide robust, quantitative evidence of the effectiveness of mammographic screening for reducing inequalities in survival between women of different socio-economic groups and of different ethnicities.

Lead: Laura Woods

This research examines the determinants of low survival amongst women with breast cancer in England in comparison to Australia, and in poorer women in comparison to richer women in the United Kingdom.