GOAL
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: February 2020 – January 2023
LSHTM staff involved: Bayard Roberts (PI), Adrianna Murphy, Daniela Fuhr, Martin McKee.
CO-CREATE: Young people tackling obesity in Europe
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.
Dates: May 2018 – April 2023
Funder: European Union Horizon 2020
LSHTM staff involved: Harry Rutter, Cecile Knai, Natalie Savona
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 Dinâmicas Sociais e Saúde (Portugal), World Cancer Research Fund International (Belgium), EAT Stockholm Food Forum AS (Norway), University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (United States), Press (Norway), Universitetet i Bergen (Norway), SWPS Uniwersytet Humanistycznospołeczny (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.
EU-TOPIA
TOwards imProved screening for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer In All of Europe
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.
Dates: September 2015 – August 2020
Funder: European Commission
LSHTM staff involved: Martin McKee, Keti Glonti
Collaborators: 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
Treatment and control of NCDs in Malaysia and the Philippines
Creating the building blocks for better treatment and control of non-communicable diseases among poor and vulnerable households in Malaysia and the Philippines
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.
Dates: September 2016 – August 2020
Funder: Wellcome Trust/Newton Fund-MRC Humanities and Social Science Collaborative Award
LSHTM staff involved: Martin McKee, Dina Balabanova, Benjamin Palafox
Collaborators: University of the Philippines – Manila, College of Medicine and UCSI University, Malaysia
World Asthma Phenotypes Study (WASP)
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.
Funder: European Research Council
Dates: January 2016 – November 2021
LSHTM staff involved: Neil Pearce