A project which aims to eradicate three neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies, has been awarded a £3.5 million grant.
The ‘Social Sciences for Severe Stigmatising Skin Diseases’ project, led by Professor Gail Davey and Dr Shadaduz Zaman from the Global Health and Infection department at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), is one of eight projects to be awarded funding as part of the NIHR’s £34 million investment into global health research projects to tackle NTDs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
The NIHR Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) programme has awarded the funding to projects led by teams made up of researchers in the UK and those in LMICs.
The Social Sciences for Severe Stigmatising Skin Diseases programme will receive funding for four years, from September 2019 to August 2023. BSMS will work in collaboration with the Mycetoma Research Centre in Sudan, the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) based at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, and the University of Rwanda to meet the scientific aims for the programme.
Commenting on the grant, Professor Davey said: "I'm excited to be able to expand research on these three stigmatised conditions to a new country through our partners at the University of Rwanda. The project has public engagement at its core, enabling the voice of affected people and communities to be heard right from the outset."
Dr Shahaduz Zaman, Reader in Medical Anthropology and Global Health, added: "I am really enthused about the 5S Foundation as this will give us a major opportunity to mainstream social science in global health."
The aims of the programme are to examine the social and economic contexts of podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies; to understand the dynamics and dimensions of stigma; to investigate how all three diseases have been conceptualised at national and international policy levels; and to develop a comprehensive intervention strategy for each disease.
Find out more about the NIHR’s RIGHT programme and the other projects to be awarded funding here >