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Cities4Forests
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Cities4Forests programme provides a network, between cities in developing nations, to share lessons learned and baselines on forest restoration and protection programmes. This allows best practice to be identified and adopted across cities’ interventions and facilitates accelerated innovation. Defra’s investment in Cities4Forests will finance specific activities that will help decision makers and officials in cities, in a number of developing countries, access tools, resources and technical assistance that can support them in developing policies and interventions to protect and restore forests. The programme will also seek to deliver a ‘global mayoral declaration’ on the value of trees and forests and their role in combatting climate change. The programme will focus on: strengthening institutional capacity and capability through technical assistance to improve developing country’s city government support for and investment in trees, forests, and green infrastructure; supporting developing country’s city governments to increase investment (political, economic, and social) and implement new and/or improved programs to support the management and conservation of inner and nearby forests; supporting and encouraging developing country mayors to increase political action and support for trees and forests as a solution for combatting climate change, supporting better water management, and improving human health and well-being.
Grant to the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) to establish inclusive multistakeholder platforms to tackle plastic pollution with partner countries.
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) brings together governments, businesses, and civil society in countries committing to tackling plastic pollution, to support meaningful and tangible action. GPAP operates globally through partnerships that bring the GPAP model to priority Official Development Assistance (ODA)-eligible countries. Through key activities in convening, building roadmaps, and identifying financing solutions, GPAP aims to foster a collaborative approach to reducing plastic pollution, and ultimately improve the environment and the quality of life for people and communities impacted by plastic pollution. GPAP’s work is guided by three strategic pillars: • Convening communities and curating conversations • Generating new insights and action roadmaps • Catalysing coordinated action to scale solutions
Ocean Country Partnership Programme
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) supports countries to manage the marine environment more sustainably, including by strengthening marine science expertise, developing science-based policy and management tools and creating educational resources for coastal communities. The programme is funded through official development assistance (ODA) as part of the UK’s £500 million Blue Planet Fund. Through the OCPP, the UK government partners with ODA-eligible countries to deliver positive impacts for coastal communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems. Bilateral partnerships under the OCPP are primarily delivered by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), agencies of the UK government that possess unique expertise in marine science and management. The OCPP also funds two international initiatives that align with its aims and help to develop global public goods, the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) and the Friends of Ocean Action (FOA). GOAP is a global, multi-stakeholder partnership established to enable countries and other stakeholders to effectively measure and manage progress towards sustainable ocean development. FOA is a platform hosted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which brings together ocean leaders from a wide range of sectors to encourage action and investment into sustainable ocean projects.
UK contribution to the World Bank Group PROBLUE Programme to facilitate sustainable finance for healthy oceans
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
PROBLUE is the World Bank’s leading multilateral mechanism for leveraging and disbursing blue finance towards sustainable ocean sectors and activities. It is a multi-donor trust fund that supports the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, Life Below Water, and the Bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. PROBLUE aims to do this by reducing the existing blue finance gap by creating the necessary enabling environment for public and private sectors to shift from unsustainable to sustainable activities.
European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) phase II: funding for 2020 workplan
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
The UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) funds outstanding global health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR provided funding to the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) which aims to support collaborative research that accelerates the clinical development of new or improved interventions to prevent or treat poverty related as well as emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases affecting sub-Saharan Africa. NIHR has supported research as part of the 2020 Workplan focussed on: ‘Mobilisation of funding for COVID-19 research in sub-Saharan Africa’; ‘Addressing gender and diversity gaps in clinical research capacity at the EDCTP Regional Networks of Excellence; and "Capacity development for disease outbreak and epidemic response in sub-Saharan Africa, in collaboration with Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)". This activity is a component of European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) phase II programme (GB-GOV-10-EDCTP2).
NIHR GRP: Healthy Ageing in Sub-Saharan Africa
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
The NIHR Global Research Professorship scheme is open to all professions and all Higher Education Institutions (HEI), based in England and the Devolved Administrations, to nominate health researchers and methodologists with an outstanding research record of clinical and applied health research and its effective translation for improved health. Global Research Professors are required to have existing strong collaborations or links with collaborators or partners in institutions in countries on the OECD DAC list and the award should plan to strengthen these/support training and capacity development/mentorship in these partners. Thanks to advances in health and sanitation, around the world people are living longer than ever before, with the greatest changes happening in Africa. In these added years of life, older people understandably want health and wellbeing, that is ‘healthy ageing’. However, currently many African countries, with challenged healthcare services and limited resources, are struggling to provide for their rapidly ageing populations, meaning older people are more likely to be living with disability and dependence. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes healthy ageing as an older person’s ability to walk, see and hear, and function mentally within the place they live. As countries develop health services to meet the growing needs of ageing populations, there is an opportunity now to proactively plan innovative ways of providing healthcare to help people age well. I have an established research network across The Gambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe on which to build this research programme. I want to understand why some people age healthily and some ‘unhealthily’ in these three very different countries, and then develop a ‘Healthy Ageing Check-up’, run by nurses and therapists in local communities, where older people can be assessed and offered practical management to maintain health as they age. Initially my team and I will analyse information collected from 5030 older adults across the three countries, to understand how commonly people are ageing healthily (and unhealthily), and how this influences quality of life. We will then look at what diseases particularly pre-dispose someone to unhealthy ageing, which we should address in our healthy ageing check-ups. State-of-the-art blood tests for molecules reflecting how our bodies work, will help us understand the underlying processes behind how these diseases affect the way we age. We will then work with a range of stakeholders, healthcare experts and older people themselves, to develop a health check-up for people aged 65 years and older, that we will test in Zimbabwe. The check-up will assess for example, walking, balance, nutrition, memory, mood, eyesight, and hearing. We expect most older people will have problems in several areas. When we identify a problem we will offer advice, practical solutions and if needed arrange specialist referral. We will test how well the roll-out of this system of health checks works, for example how often we identify a health problem, how often we can offer a solution and, when we follow them up again after 4 months, how frequently the older person has taken up the recommendations. In theory access to public healthcare is free to older people in Zimbabwe. As well as calculating how much it costs to provide the health check-ups and care, we will see if people experience extra ‘out-of-pocket’ costs because of the health checks, and if so, the reasons for this. Throughout, we will gather detailed feedback from patients, families, and healthcare workers, about the health check-up programme, so that we can refine and improve the process. We will continue to work closely with local communities throughout the research to understand perspectives, seek advice, feedback progress and importantly to develop peer-support groups, each led by a community champion, trained by our team. Peer-support groups will bring together older people with similar conditions to enable group-based self-management (e.g., group exercises, group discussions about nutrition). Finally, working with the WHO, we will develop a ‘Healthy Ageing Intervention Toolkit’ to guide the structured, comprehensive, person-centred assessment and management of older people, ready for scale-up across sub-Saharan Africa. Over the 5 years, I will grow a highly-skilled and experienced Global Health and Ageing Research team to ensure positive impacts on older people’s health for many years to come.
NIHR GRP: Calling time on avoidable morbidity from asthma in African children
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
The NIHR Global Research Professorship scheme is open to all professions and all Higher Education Institutions (HEI), based in England and the Devolved Administrations, to nominate health researchers and methodologists with an outstanding research record of clinical and applied health research and its effective translation for improved health. Global Research Professors are required to have existing strong collaborations or links with collaborators or partners in institutions in countries on the OECD DAC list and the award should plan to strengthen these/support training and capacity development/mentorship in these partners. Vision All children and adolescents with asthma in Africa having equitable access to affordable and effective care. Aims My overall aim is to improve access to effective and affordable care for children and adolescents with asthma in Africa. Specific aims To assess the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of a pragmatic single inhaler-based approach to asthma care To assess the prevalence and risk factors for asthma in Africa Establish an African observatory for asthma Strengthen research capacity by creating new opportunities for African early career researchers Advocate for improved access to effective and affordable asthma medications for all Background Around 1 in 10 children and adolescents have asthma and mortality from asthma in some African countries is 100 times that in the UK. Medications to reduce suffering and death have been available for over half a century, but these have largely been unavailable in Africa. Quality data on prevalence and cost of care are largely unavailable resulting in low prioritisation by policymakers. These inequities warrant urgent intervention. A recent change in asthma management recommends against use of asthma relievers (reliefs airways obstruction) inhaler therapy alone based on disproportionately high deaths associated with their excessive use. Combination inhalers which include both a controller (treatment to prevent airway swelling) medication usually corticosteroids and fast-acting relievers (β2-agonist) are now widely accepted and endorsed as the first step in the treatment ladder, but are inaccessible in Africa. Design and methods Individually randomised controlled trial of the clinical-and cost-effectiveness of a pragmatic single inhaler-based approach to asthma management in poor rural South African setting. Population: Children and adolescents 6-18 years, who have had ≥1 asthma attack in the last 12 months. A total of 2028 will be included with equal numbers in the intervention and the control group. Intervention: An easy to use strategy of an inhaled corticosteroid/ fast-onset β2-agonist (ICS/LABA) inhaler for symptom relief (reliever) as well as for maintenance (controller) therapy. Control: Local standard asthma care Primary outcome: Severe asthma attack defined as any asthma attack that requires medication with oral or intravenous corticosteroids. Time: 12 months’ follow-up. I will conduct a multi-country cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence and risk factors for asthma in children and adolescents in three African countries, with a view to create an African Asthma Observatory. I will collect data with standardised tools Global Asthma Network (GAN) methodology with a self-administered written and video questionnaire on symptoms of asthma, allergic rhinitis, eczema and environmental questions. In addition, a list of questions on risk factors tailored for the African setting will be included. Patient Public Involvement Pilot work from focus groups with patients and carers of the NIHR Global Group Achieving Control of Asthma in Children in Africa (ACACIA) informed the research. Half of the asthmatics experienced severe symptoms which affected participation in sport, school and leisure activities. Asthmatics also expressed a need for effective, easy to use inhalers. A pilot on the prevalence of asthma in the uMkhanyakude community with the Vukuzazi health camp by Africa Health Research Institute where I propose to perform the clinical trial found than only 55% of adolescents with asthma symptoms had a diagnosis. I will adapt the NIHR INVOLVE information for participation in clinical trials to isiZulu to ensure equitable participation. Community stakeholders and service-users will be engaged throughout the project. Dissemination Tools to engage communities will include meetings, theatre, radio and media. The Pan African Thoracic Society, Global Asthma Network, and the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease through its WHO-linked initiative on access to inhaled medicines for non-communicable respiratory diseases, will be used as vehicles to disseminate findings and advocacy efforts.
NIHR GRP: Advancing Research to Reduce Alcohol Related Harms - Policy, Practice and Sustainable Development in India
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
The NIHR Global Research Professorship scheme is open to all professions and all Higher Education Institutions (HEI), based in England and the Devolved Administrations, to nominate health researchers and methodologists with an outstanding research record of clinical and applied health research and its effective translation for improved health. Global Research Professors are required to have existing strong collaborations or links with collaborators or partners in institutions in countries on the OECD DAC list and the award should plan to strengthen these/support training and capacity development/mentorship in these partners. Problem drinking affects large numbers of individuals and their families across the world. It also leads to social harm through violence, loss of work, and increased direct law enforcement and healthcare costs. As India and other similar countries become more affluent, drinking is becoming more common. Furthermore, the harms related to drinking are disproportionately affecting the poorest in society. Despite this burden of problem drinking, only one out of ten such drinkers has any access to appropriate care in India. This is due to the inability of our health systems to successfully integrate and scale-up effective treatments in a sustainable manner. Through my programme I aim to bridge this gap between 'what works' and 'how to make it work at the population level' by developing contextually-relevant strategies to guide the translation of such research evidence in low resource settings. I will do this by using the lessons learnt in a series of research studies conducted in India. In one study I will first develop and then test a contextually relevant and scalable intervention that caters to the various levels of severity of problem drinking and also engages the families of those with drinking problems to enhance entry into and adherence to the treatment. In the other study I will test how engaging communities in care allows greater engagement in care and consequently better outcomes in those with depression. While investigating if these interventions work in real-world settings, I will also examine the various strategies required to prepare the health-systems for efficiently and sustainably integrating these interventions into routine healthcare delivery. All these studies will include a systematic engagement with a range of community stakeholders including service users, their families, clinicians, community leaders, and policy makers. All these stakeholders will be equal partners in the research and will actively contribute to the design and implementation of the studies. The studies will be designed so that they are responsive to inputs of the stakeholders and felt needs of the communities in which they will be implemented. In parallel with all these studies, I will coordinate a systematic process, involving various stakeholders, through which I will consolidate the lessons learnt from the individual studies to develop a guidance document to aid the efficient scaling-up of psychosocial interventions in low resource settings. The short-term impact of the programme will be the benefits accrued by the study participants receiving the psychosocial interventions, and contextually relevant knowledge generated about ‘what works’ i.e. psychosocial interventions for problem drinking. The long-term benefits beyond the duration of the programme, and also beyond India, will be through the knowledge generated on how to sustainably scale up effective programmes so that they are easily accessible to those who need them.
NIHR GRP: Increasing newborn survival: harnessing real-time data, digital innovation and community engagement
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
The NIHR Global Research Professorship scheme is open to all professions and all Higher Education Institutions (HEI), based in England and the Devolved Administrations, to nominate health researchers and methodologists with an outstanding research record of clinical and applied health research and its effective translation for improved health. Global Research Professors are required to have existing strong collaborations or links with collaborators or partners in institutions in countries on the OECD DAC list and the award should plan to strengthen these/support training and capacity development/mentorship in these partners. Vision: to improve the health of newborns and children by building equitable institutional partnerships through which global learning and innovation can flourish. The scientific gap I will address is how to improve newborn care in health facilities in low-resource settings. Every year, around two thirds of the 2.4 million deaths occurring within the first month of life and half of the 2 million stillbirths are likely avoidable by ensuring that the most generalisable (already-well-described) clinical pathways are delivered. Over the last 7 years I have been working with: families, healthcare providers, software developers, data scientists and the Ministries of Health in Zimbabwe, Malawi and the UK, to co-develop a data driven quality improvement system for hospital-based newborn care. Neotree is a tablet-based application developed with and for nurses and doctors to give better care to newborns, especially in low-resource settings where most newborn health care is delivered by those with little or no training in newborn health. The app guides the healthcare provider through clinical history taking and examination for sick and small babies, providing educational messaging and prompts. Users input key data such as body temperature and a score measuring how alert the baby is. The app captures those and other data and then suggests the best treatment pathways. This straightforward combination of the key data, education and guidelines is incredibly powerful: not just because it can improve the result for each individual baby, but also because the data can be sent onward to local and national data stores allowing doctors and nurses to look at data for their own population and then improve the guidelines. Neotree is open source, and all data captured by the system are owned locally. As of 19/11/2021 the Neotree has been used in two countries to assist the care of ~16,000 newborns by more than 350 healthcare professionals and has been shown to improve quality of care (e.g. more targeted and evidenced based prescription antibiotics). Plans and funding applications for larger scale testing to assess impact on mortality are underway (out of scope for this application). Through this Professorship I will extend Neotree to the care of the mother and baby during birth and the care of babies born in rural primary care clinics in Zimbabwe. In addition, I will substantially improve two existing areas: how to use data from the Neotree to improve guidelines, and how we work with families and parents to create partnerships in care - in particular we will find out how best to involve parents in feeding babies and keeping them warm. I will increase the number of African researchers who are able to conduct research in digital innovation, newborn care and community engagement through (i) supervision and mentorship of African PhD and Masters students and clinicians; (ii) ensuring the Neotree data are curated, easily accessible and reusable and (iii) delivering a 2-year programme in engaging families and communities in newborn research and care. The latter will build on work we have conducted over the last 6 months with families and ArtGlo Africa, a Malawian based participatory arts group, to empower families as active participants in healthcare and research and to strengthen community engagement in newborn care in Malawi and Zimbabwe. I will also mentor a junior researcher in UK-focused community child health. Outputs will include scientific papers, presentations in international conferences, and production of clinical guidelines, software and information about how to better treat sick newborns. These will be used to leverage further funding, and disseminated via academic, teaching and public and policy engagement media to influence newborn care policy.
NIHR GRP: Using innovations in intervention and evaluation to reduce sexual transmission of HIV
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
The NIHR Global Research Professorship scheme is open to all professions and all Higher Education Institutions (HEI), based in England and the Devolved Administrations, to nominate health researchers and methodologists with an outstanding research record of clinical and applied health research and its effective translation for improved health. Global Research Professors are required to have existing strong collaborations or links with collaborators or partners in institutions in countries on the OECD DAC list and the award should plan to strengthen these/support training and capacity development/mentorship in these partners. Aim: My goal is to bring the benefits of recent major advances in HIV prevention to stem the HIV epidemic and its negative impact on young people in South Africa. I will do this through a peer-led community-based package of biomedical HIV prevention and psychosocial support (biosocial intervention) that is tailored to the young persons need. i.e. more vulnerable and at risk young people will receive more support. Background: Despite huge advances in HIV treatment and prevention HIV related ill-health and death remains a huge problem in South Africa. 7.7 million people are living with HIV and young people bear the brunt of both the health and socioeconomic impact of the HIV pandemic. The anticipated doubling in number of young people over the next twenty years really underscores the urgency of developing scalable models of delivering HIV prevention alongside treatment. Design and methods: The study will be conducted amongst men and women aged 16-30 living in a poor and rural area of KwaZulu-Natal and will follow two phases: In the first 18 months we will use participatory research with patients and public involvement (PPI) to optimise Thetha Nami (a peer-navigator delivered HIV prevention intervention for young people). We will: a) optimise the peer navigator needs assessment tool so that vulnerable and at risk individuals receive more support b) refine the social support and peer mentorship components of the intervention c) establish safe clinical pathways for delivery of sexual health self-care to young people d) identify ways to use routine service use data to identify groups that need increased support In the second 30 months we will test this optimised intervention in a randomised controlled trial. 3000 men and women aged 16-30 will be selected at random from the study area, ensuring that there is gender and age balance. If they agree to participate they will be randomly offered one of four possible intervention combinations: a) usual care, which is clinic based HIV testing and treatment if positive and biomedical prevention if negative; b) the peer-led biosocial intervention c) the sexual health self-care kit and d).a combination of the peer-led intervention and sexual health self-care kits. The participants will then be followed up after 24 months for an interviewer administered survey and a finger prick test for HIV. The main outcome of the study is to measure the effect of the interventions on reducing sexually transmissible HIV. This is defined as participants remaining HIV negative, or, if living with HIV, starting antiretroviral therapy and having an undetectable HIV viral load. We will also measure the effect of the intervention/s on sexual and mental health and quality of life. PPI is integral to this study. We used PPI to iteratively co-create the peer-led intervention. We will engage young people throughout the study. This will include, but is not limited to, strengthening the youth advisory component of our community advisory board, delivery of interventions through peer-navigators, and involvement of youth on the project steering committee. I will use participatory dissemination workshops to understand the enablers and ensure that these interventions were equitable in their reach. Dissemination: The final output will be a well-defined and scalable implementation strategy to reduce the negative impact of HIV on youth in South Africa. It will comprise a feasible approach to identify those at risk, and then deliver an intervention to improve uptake and effective use of HIV prevention and care. By engaging our technical advisory group, that include service users and providers and health policy makers, from the inception we are confident that we will generate the evidence needed to scale-up the interventions.
Royal Academy of Engineering Innovation & Commercialisation - Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation Alumni
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
By focusing on building engineering capacity in Sub Saharan Africa, this programme will have a primary focus on some of the poorest countries in the developing world and will help strengthen their resilience and response to crisis and help promote global prosperity. COVID-19
Royal Academy of Engineering Innovation & Commercialisation - Africa Prize CARE
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Project CARE aims to support African Engineering entrepreneurs to make and supply PPE which is effectively used in hospitals and clinics in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as to respond to other COVID-19 related challenges in their communities. COVID-19
Royal Academy of Engineering Core - Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, ENERGY & INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation aims to stimulate and reward engineering entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. The Africa Prize encourages ambitious and talented sub-Saharan African engineering innovators from all disciplines to apply their skills to develop scalable solutions to local challenges, highlighting the importance of engineering as an enabler of improved quality of life and economic development. Crucial commercialisation support is awarded to a shortlist of innovative applicants, through an eight-month period of training and mentoring.
Carbon Initiative For Development (Ci-Dev)
UK - Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
The Carbon Initiative for Development (Ci-Dev) aims to increase the flow of international carbon finance, primarily into Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It launched in 2013 and supports climate change mitigation in pursuit of the Paris Agreement’s goals and facilitates access to cleaner energy and other poverty reducing technologies. It guarantees a revenue stream if projects deliver their expected benefits, builds local capacity to develop projects and monitor carbon emissions, and pilots projects that could serve as blueprints to increase LDC access to the international carbon market
BBC World Service
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Increasing the provision of, and access to, impartial news and information that responds to audience needs in English and local languages in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America & Central America
Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF)
African Union Conflict and Governance Support Programme (AUCG)
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
AUCG will work to strengthen the conflict prevention, conflict management and governance capabilities of the African Union (AU). In doing so, it will help tackle emerging threats to the UK and Africa earlier and before they result in violent conflict. Emphasis will be put on strengthening the AU’s early warning, analysis and early response capacity and capability, including the AU’s ability to effectively mediate in situations before or during conflict. AUCG will also support the AU’s ability to effectively monitor elections across the African continent, helping to promote open societies and create a more democratic world, and will increase women’s meaningful participation in political and peace processes.
The South Africa-UK International Economic Partnership
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To achieve equitable, economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa the Rules-Based Multilateral System needs to reflect the interests of middle and low income countries. This mechanism will support South Africa-UK collaboration on international economic policy. Specifically, it will deliver research technical assistance, policy discussion and formulation policy advocacy.
UK investment in the Global Fund 2020-2022 to reduce transmission and mortality for HIV AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria through treatments, diagnostics and preventive technologies and related services
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
To tackle the immediate impact of the three most deadly infectious diseases - HIV AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria - and put the international community on the right track to end the three diseases as epidemics by 2030, and achieve universal health coverage.
PIDG2 - Second phase of DFID's Support to the Private Infrastructure Development Group .
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
The aim of PIDG is to mobilise private investment in infrastructure, in order to increase service provision for the poor, boost economic growth, trade and jobs to alleviate poverty in the world’s poorest countries.