Knowledge Generation

The global burden of morbidity and mortality associated with mental illness is huge, and mental health is seriously adversely affected in emergency settings. Climate change-related emergencies such as large-scale flooding destroy health and other infrastructure and displace already vulnerable women, children, and their families. Such emergencies have cascading and compounding effects on mental health, by increasing rates of stress, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, for example.

The proposed intervention will address the problem of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases among street vendors and other populations vulnerable to air pollution. The respiratory and cardiovascular health effects of air pollution exposure is well documented in the epidemiological literature including from occupational groups exposed to air pollution. We have also observed these adverse health effects among the street vendor population in Accra (Amegah et al. JESEE 2022).

Our innovation will address the issue of under five child stunting in Rwanda in general but particularly among indigenous people. Under five child stunting in Rwanda is 33%, one of the highest worldwide. Health professionals confirms 100% that the underlying causes is poor nutrition among pregnant and lactating women. Consequently, it is more higher among poor families.

This project is addressing direct and indirect health issues caused by drought in Kapoeta East County, the direct effect of drought is access to safe and clean water, almost all seasonal stream dried-up in locations and many existing hand pump got broken due to over population, Community travelling for 6 hours in search of water, most hours spent for fetching water.

This proposed study seeks to address psychosocial health challenges that are due to climate change induced natural disasters in Southern Africa. Psychosocial health encompasses the mental, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of well-being (Kumar, 2020). Much of the focus on climate change-associated health impacts and response action research in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has centered on physical health aspects and nutritional health aspects.

The 2022 flooding has led to outbreaks of cholera in the camps and communities hosting flood-displaced persons. As of November, 34 of 36 states are flooded, and the threat of more outbreaks of water- or vector-borne diseases persists. The floods have also triggered population movements from outbreak areas to unaffected places. In Nigeria, up to 80% of displaced persons are absorbed by communities; the risk of outbreaks along migratory routes and in destination communities or camps is increased with the influx of high numbers of individuals.

Aida Sadikh Badiane of the Universite Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar in Senegal will use a metabolomics platform to identify cervicovaginal metabolites and inflammatory mediators associated with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, which cause the majority of cervical cancer cases, in Senegalese women. Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women in sub-Saharan Africa. Metabolic and immune markers could enable more effective diagnoses for these diseases than the current methods used in low-resource settings.

Simon Kariuki of the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Kenya will use an antibody platform to characterize children's immune responses to the new malaria vaccine to determine the impact of any accompanying infections. The WHO recently approved a new malaria vaccine that will mainly be deployed in sub-Saharan Africa. During its development, HIV-infected children were found to mount weaker immune responses. Helminth infections, which are prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, are also suspected to negatively impact vaccine efficacy.

Haroon Hafeez of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Pakistan will develop a framework for the re-use of large clinical and administrative datasets to enable comparative analysis of COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness in Pakistan and in Brazil, with colleagues at Fiocruz there, to improve pandemic responses and promote data-driven evidence generation in the Global South. Monitoring vaccinations across different settings is crucial for containing pandemics.

Vinicius de Araujo Oliveira of Fiocruz in Brazil will develop a framework for the re-use of large clinical and administrative datasets to enable comparative analysis of COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness in Brazil and in Pakistan, with colleagues at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre there, to improve pandemic responses and promote data-driven evidence generation in the Global South. Monitoring vaccinations across different settings is crucial for containing pandemics.