Welcome to another episode of the Connecting Citizens to Science podcast, where we explore the dynamic role of public involvement in advancing health research. In this episode, hosted by Dr. Kim Ozano, we delve into the impactful world of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) with insights from the PPI Summer School at the University of Limerick.Episode Guests:Dr. Jon Salsberg - Senior Lecturer in Primary Healthcare Research, University of Limerick A dedicated public health researcher, Dr. Salsberg has an academic background in health promotion and development anthropology. His research primarily explores the dynamics of research partnerships and the transition of research leadership from academic institutions to community stakeholders.Over his career, Dr. Salsberg has been involved in collaborative research with a diverse array of stakeholders, including patients, health practitioners, community organisations, policymakers, and health service decision-makers. His extensive work with indigenous communities includes his significant involvement in the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project, which is detailed here. In this episode, Jon discusses the evolution and impact of the PPI IGNITE Network.Lora Ruth Wogu - Founder and CEO of Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Ireland Lora Ruth Wogu is an Allied Health Professional and a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in healthcare, focusing on quality patient care for migrants and individuals with disabilities. As the founder and CEO of Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Ireland, she champions initiatives to educate and improve care for those affected by these conditions. Lora also leads the Migrant Health Alliance, aiming to enhance research participation and address barriers faced by migrant communities in healthcare settings. Her work is driven by a commitment to ensuring compassionate, competent, and inclusive healthcare for all, making her a respected voice in health advocacy and policy discussions.Lora shares her experiences with engaging migrant communities in health research.Alison Johnson - keynote speaker PPI Summer School 2023 Alison is a passionate advocate for patient, public, and carer involvement in healthcare, focusing on serious medical conditions. Her work in PPI began as a research participant, evolving into roles as a collaborator, where she champions the inclusion of patient and carer voices in health research. A lifelong learner, Alison's voluntary efforts extend to mentoring researchers and advising on best practices for effective patient engagement. In This Episode:Introduction to PPI and its SignificanceDr. Kim Ozano introduces the concept of patient and public involvement and its critical role in shaping health research.Deep Dive with Dr. Jon SalsbergLearn about the establishment and achievements of the PPI IGNITE Network, its goals for institutional change, and how it's transforming health research culture in Ireland.Community Engagement Insights from Lora Ruth WoguDiscussion on the challenges and strategies for involving diverse communities, especially migrants, in health research to ensure their voices are heard and represented.Experiences from the Field with Alison JohnsonAlison shares her personal experiences and the importance of having meaningful contributions from public collaborators in research projects.Email us at hello@thesclagency.co.uk for more information or to share your thoughts.Subscribe and Follow Us:Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. Rate us and leave a review to help us reach more listeners.Follow...

In this episode, we discuss meaningful participation and inclusion when working with marginalised communities. We draw on research approaches from the Reducing the Burden of Severe Stigmatising Skin Diseases (REDRESS) research programme that aims to reduce illness, stigma, social exclusion, and poverty caused by severe stigmatising skin diseases (SSSDs) in Liberia. Since 2019 REDRESS has been co-developing new knowledge together with researchers, patients and programme implementers that directly respond to priority health needs detailed in the country’s ‘Investment Plan for Building a Resilient Health System’. Hannah Berrian who is a Research Fellow for the Patient Engagement and Person-Centred Approaches thematic area for REDRESS and Shahreen Chowdhury, a researcher and PhD student at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine join us in a discussion about participation and inclusion and how these impact the partnerships and power dynamics that exist when trying to improve the health and wellbeing of marginalised people. Episode guests:Miss Hannah Berrian - Research Fellow, UL-PIRE Africa CenterHannah Berrian obtained a Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH) from Cuttington Graduate School of Professional Studies in Liberia. She served as Liberia’s Mental Health Research Capacity Building Coordinator for Youth FORWARD, the U.S.-National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded project from a collaboration between the Boston College of Social Work in Massachusetts, U.S., College of Medicine of the Allied Health Sciences (CoMAS) of the University of Sierra Leone, and UL-PIRE Africa Center at the University of Liberia, respectively. She has several years of professional experience in project management, qualitative and quantitative research, programme implementation, qualitative data analysis, and building capacity for mental health research, among others. Hannah is a Research Fellow for the Patient Engagement and Person-Centred Approaches thematic area on Health Systems Strengthening for Reducing the Burden of Severe Stigmatizing Skin Diseases (REDRESS) consortium. Ms Shahreen Chowdhury - Research Assistant, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineShahreen Chowdhury is a social scientist, with a background in public health and geography. She currently works as a research assistant and PhD student at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She obtained her Masters in Public Health in International Development at the University of Sheffield and has varied local and international NGO experience in diverse settings on community health programmes. Shahreen is particularly interested in the links between equity, mental health and disability inclusion, and community based participatory research. Her PhD explores mainstreaming the rights of people with psychosocial disabilities in Bangladesh, Liberia and Lebanon. In her current work, Shahreen is passionate about using creative participatory methods to amplify the voices and experiences of vulnerable groups affected by chronic illness and disability. Shahreen has extensive experience in working with co-researchers using photovoice, storytelling and art based participatory methods. Shahreen works in Neglected Tropical Disease programmes in West Africa and South Asia with a focus on co-production, designing, implementing and evaluating case detection and community based psychosocial support systems. Useful links:DOWNLOAD A TOOLKIT FOR PARTICIPATORY HEALTH RESEARCH METHODS - Download and access a toolkit of PHR paradigms, methodologies and methods that can be selected and applied by researchers aiming to maximise inclusion, participation, and the achievement of more equitable research partnerships.

In this two-part mini-series we are focusing on health systems strengthening- what it is, how to do it and what action is needed to ensure that the approach is embedded in discussions at key global events and discussion platforms. This episode follows on from the first episode from the Centre for Health Systems Strengthening at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (episode 60) which focused on the health diplomacy and how researchers can advocate for health systems strengthening approaches and community voices in health diplomacy spaces. Today we hear from two advocates who have been acting within health diplomacy spaces and as researchers. We hear from Emmanuel Zaizay, who is affected by the Neglected Tropical Disease Buruli Ulcer, about his experience of growing skills and capacity to communicate the needs of people affected by stigmatising neglected tropical diseases.We also hear from Maurine Murenga, a TB advocate who has represented the TB community in high level UN meetings. She is open and honest about both the strengths and opportunities of being an advocate, but also what this means to her on a personal level. Her open reflections are really critical to how researchers function when engaging with communities.Episode guests:Dr Kerry Millington - Research Uptake Manager, Liverpool of Tropical MedicineKerry has been working in global health for over 20 years with a keen focus on ending the tuberculosis epidemic. A key part of her work is developing trusted relationships with range of stakeholders to work in partnership, in collaboration and in a coordinated way ensuring the academic and health professional voice credibly informs decisions that impact on health. This can range from co-creating research ideas to influencing policy and political commitments. A key stakeholder to engage with is the voice of TB survivors and advocates to accelerate action for those in most need of innovations in TB care and prevention to transform lives. Maurine Murenga - Coordinator of TB Women GlobalMaurine Murenga is a passionate advocate for the health, development and human rights of women and children. Maurine’s passion for advocacy is driven by her lived experience, and the inequality and vulnerability that young women and adolescent girls experience in her community.Maurine is currently the coordinator of TB Women Global, Board Member of Unitaid, Friend of the Fight US and EGPAF Kenya. She is a former board member of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and is also a member of WHO's Global Accelerator for Pediatric Formulations Advisory and Union Working Group Gender Equity in TB. In Kenya – Maurine is a member of the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism and Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV Committee of Experts.Emmanuel Zaizay – Co-researcher and advocate, REDRESS, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Emmanuel Zaizay is from Lofa County, Voinjama District. He works with REDRESS as a coresearcher and was recruited as a patient affected person having been diagnosed with Buruli ulcer. He also serves as a data collector, working in photovoice settings and participatory methods such as bodymapping and focus group discussions. Useful links:S8E3 - Being a co-researcher with lived experience of an NTD - Emmanuel Zaizay, who is a peer researcher in the REDRESS programme and is affected by Buruli Ulcer, a neglected tropical disease, features in this earlier epsiode. He shares with us the value of learning new skills, through becoming a co-researcher, which has helped him better connect with his community and contribute to the improvement of medical and...

Hello Listeners! In this episode we are joined by the Centre for Health Systems Strengthening at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, also known as CHESS. In this first episode of a two-part mini-series focusing on health systems strengthening, we talk about health diplomacy and why it is needed. We hear from Dr. Joanna Raven and Dr. Kerry Millington, who have both been working in global health for over 20 years and are passionate about embedding both health systems strengthening approaches and community knowledge into political commitments and policy reforms. Bringing a perspective from the fields of maternal and child health, lung health and tuberculosis, Dr Uzochukwu Egere co-hosts this episode where we discuss health diplomacy as a new field for academics and healthcare professionals. One that is about making connections, sharing intel and learning how the United Nations and other High-Level Meetings work, so we can effectively share evidence quickly in often extremely short windows of opportunity, so policy makers can listen and act. Dr Uzochukwu Egere - Senior Research Associate, Emergency Obstetric and Quality of Care Unit, Department of International Public Health (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine)Uzo is a paediatrician and public health researcher with extensive experience in multidisciplinary global health research. His research interest is in implementation research and health systems strengthening to tackle inequities in the fields of Maternal and Child health, Lung health and Tuberculosis. Uzo’s work focuses on health and health systems challenges relevant to low-and middle-income settings and facilitates interactions between researchers and consumers of research outputs (the community) to ensure timely policy change, uptake of interventions, and universal health coverage. Dr Joanna Raven - Reader in health systems, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineJo has worked in global health for more than 25 years, focusing on strengthening health systems. Jo is a researcher with a passion for co-designing and implementing health system research with local stakeholders including community members, health workers, health managers and decision makers. As a health worker herself, Jo’s work focuses on supporting the health workforce to deliver people-centred care that is of good quality and leaves no one behind. Dr Kerry Millington – Research Uptake Manager, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineKerry has been working in global health for over 20 years with a keen focus on ending the tuberculosis epidemic. A key part of her work is developing trusted relationships with range of stakeholders to work in partnership, in collaboration and in a coordinated way ensuring the academic and health professional voice credibly informs decisions that impact on health. This can range from co-creating research ideas to influencing policy and political commitments. A key stakeholder to engage with is the voice of TB survivors and advocates to accelerate action for those in most need of innovations in TB care and prevention to transform lives. Research programme links:ReBUILD for Resilience - Research on health systems in fragile contexts PERFORM2scale – Scaling up PERFORM ReDRESS - Strengthening people-centred health systems for people affected by severe stigmatising skin diseases in Liberia LIGHT - Aims to support policy and practice in transforming gendered pathways to health for people with TB in urban...

In this episode we will be hearing about a seven year research programme known as COUNTDOWN. COUNTDOWN consisted of multidisciplinary research teams across 4 countries- Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Cameroon and used co-production research approaches to improve the equity and efficiency of health systems interventions to control and eliminate seven Neglected Tropical Diseases. Research was implemented at each of the health system levels from policy to community and is all documented in the Journal ‘International Health’ as a supplement entitled Stronger together: evidence for collaborative action on neglected tropical diseases. The supplement tells the story of how the programme engaged with people who have lived experience, health workers, and policy makers and really emphasises the importance of togetherness. Our guests today are Dr Luret Lar who was the programme manager employed by Sightsavers Nigeria, a collaborator on the COUNTDOWN programme, Dr Karsor Kollie who is the Program Director for Neglected Tropical Diseases at the Ministry of Health Liberia and Laura Dean from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine who was the Social Science lead for COUNTDOWN. Dr Laura Dean – Lecturer, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineLaura has worked for the last 15 years in the use of participatory health research methodologies to support community and health systems development across sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia. Through participatory action research projects, she supports capacity strengthening within communities and health systems so that stakeholders can identify challenges and co-produce solutions. The majority of her work has focused on increasing inclusion and participation of people with lived experience of mental health conditions and chronic infectious diseases of poverty, for example neglected tropical diseases.Dr. Luret Lar - Medical Doctor, Public Health Physician, Lecturer, University of Jos, NigeriaLuret was involved in implementation research for seven years in collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine when she was working for Sightsavers. Her interest and passion about preventive medicine and including the voices of the voiceless have influenced her research career over the years. Luret was interested in inclusivity at all levels of implementation in the neglected tropical diseases programme. This connected her with people affected by neglected tropical diseases and implementers at the community facility, state, and federal levels. She worked closely with these implementers to co-produce solutions to implementation challenges that everyone collectively identified.Karsor Kollie – Programme Director, Ministry of Health, LiberiaSince 2011, Mr Kollie has established and headed the Liberian Integrated NTDs Prevention and Control Programme and is based within the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. He developed the NTD country master plan which forms the operational national guide for the next 5 years.Under his leadership the Liberian programme is making excellent progress in MDA control of Lymphatic Filariasis, Onchocerciasis, Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted Helminthiasis (STH) where treatment coverage has not gone below 75%, respectively. Alongside this, he is making significant progress in the development and application of new monitoring and evaluation criteria tailoring activities effectively with difficult on-the-ground terrain.More information can be found in the special supplement discussed in this episode: Stronger together: evidence for collaborative action on neglected tropical diseases | International Health | Oxford Academic (oup.com)Want to hear more podcasts like...

In this episode we are talking about the FEPOW Research Group. FEPOW stands for Far East Prisoners of War, and it focuses on capturing the history of civilian captives during the second World War and the impact that this has had on subsequent generations. The group brings together veterans, their families, writers, and academics to create a friendly space to capture stories that we can learn from and apply to research now. Approximately 240,000 Allied servicemen had become prisoners of war of the Japanese by early 1942. Over 50,000 British were captured during the fighting in Hong Kong, Malaya, at the fall of Singapore and across the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). The 415-kilometre Thailand-Burma railway was built by Far East prisoners of war (FEPOW) who were part of a huge slave labour force drafted from across the region. The railway provided the Japanese with a vital supply route for their fighting forces in Burma. It was forged through raw jungle, across mountain passes and was completed in a little over 15 months in October 1943. Of the 30,000 British FEPOW sent to camps in Thailand and Burma over 6,600 died. For this episode, we welcome a new co-host, Geoff Gill from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where he has been involved with research and clinical care of former Far East prisoners of war. He has led the medical history inquiries into Far East imprisonment, resulting in two recent books, Captive Memories, and Burma Railway Medicine. We also have two great guests, Brian Spittle and James Reynolds. Geoff explains to us “I think one of the things I've learnt over the years, is that there are many different ways of telling a story and there's no one right way there, there are many different ways.” and in direct reference to the stories shared directly from the FEPOWs and their archives “It's a story worth learning from, and I think we have receptive generations to tell it to.” This episode features: Prof. Geoff Gill – Professor of International Medicine, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine  Geoff Gill is Professor of International Medicine at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and the University of Liverpool, and a retired NHS Consultant Physician. At LSTM he has been involved in the medical care of ex-Far East Prisoners of War (POWs), as well as extensive clinical research into their ongoing health problems – notably persisting malaria and amoebic dysentery, chronic worm infestations, hepatitis B infection, long-term effects of vitamin deficiency, and the extensive psychological aftermath. He has published extensively on these and other POW-related health issues. More recent research has involved the medical history of the Far East POW experience, in particular on the Thai-Burma Railway. This resulted in a PhD degree in 2009, and the book Burma Railway Medicine (with Meg Parkes) published in 2017. The LSTM Far East POW Project has been in operation in different forms since late 1945, and is the longest collaboration in the School’s history. Brian Spittle Brian grew up in the UK and in his mid-twenties moved to the United States to pursue postgraduate studies. He has lived in Chicago for the past forty years, retiring from a career in higher education administration six years ago. His father, Jack Spittle, was in the RAMC during the Second World War, arriving in Singapore at the end of November 1941. He worked in the dysentery wing at Roberts Hospital at Changi, and followed the hospital moves to Selarang and Kranji. A keen ornithologist, he made detailed observations of the birds at Changi, publishing them after the war in the Bulletin of the Raffles Museum. It was only after his father died in 2004 that Brian found the notebooks he had made in captivity. Brian is close to completing a memoir about his own journey to understand more of Jack Spittle’s time as a POW and...

Have you heard the term SciArt before? In this episode, we explore what it is and the benefits of combining art and science as a research and communication tool.Our Co-host for this episode is Elli Wright, Public Engagement Manager at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Elli told us ‘...effective science communication can really connect people and communities with research. Science communicators and public engagement professionals want to reduce the elitism built into society with regards to who is allowed to access scientific knowledge. Science belongs to all of us which is why effective science communication is so important. There are many ways that science can be communicated to the diverse public audience, including through art.’Natasha Niethamer shared with us, ‘the more we engage others about public health concerns that require global efforts to fight, the more likely we are to inspire community action, driving interest in policy makers and funders. Directly inspiring even one teacher, parent, young person, or community member may indirectly inspire a large network of their own. You may inspire the next major activist of our generation!’Listen on to find out more about how a playful approach can bring new insights to your work.This episode features:Dr Elli Wright - Public Engagement Manager, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineElli has been working in the science communication and public engagement sector at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine for nearly 8 years. She is currently studying an MSc. in science communication at the University of the West of England, which has given her a stronger understanding of the theories behind science communication practices. Her research explores the use of autoethnography as a tool to the co-creation of the Tropical Medicine Time Machine by artists Tom Hyatt and Natasha Neithamer (also featured in this episode). Mark Roughley - Senior Lecturer 3D Digital Art, Liverpool John Moores UniversityMark is a Senior Lecturer in 3D Digital Art at Liverpool School of Art and Design and a member of the Face Lab research group that explores faces and art-science applications. Mark trained as a medical artist, gaining his MSc in Medical Art from the University of Dundee, and specialises in visualising anatomy through 3D data acquisition, modelling and fabrication. His research focuses on the affordances of 3D digital technologies for both digital and haptic interaction with anatomical and cultural artefacts. Mark is also the programme leader for the MA Art in Science programme, which provides exciting opportunities for artists and scientists to collaborate and explore the boundaries of art and science.Tom Hyatt - PhD Student at the Liverpool School of Art & Design, Liverpool John Moores UniversityTom is a polymathic artist, musician, scientist, educator, and maker from Rossendale, Lancashire. After graduating with a Masters in physics and philosophy from Oxford University he moved to London to pursue grassroots music and a career in the arts, while teaching maths and physics. He moved back up to Liverpool after receiving a PhD scholarship to study at the Liverpool School of Art and Design. Recently he has been working with Natasha Niethamer to create the ‘Tropical Medicine Time Machine’ for LSTM – a multifaceted piece of sci-art public engagement that encompasses the length and breadth of LSTM’s prolific 125 years.Natasha Niethamer – SciArtist, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineNatasha is a SciArtist commissioned to create a pop up museum for LSTMs 125th Anniversary, along with a set of interactive loan boxes for use in local primary schools. Natasha has a special interest in sci-art activism and public outreach in microbiology and antimicrobial resistance. In 2020, she graduated from the MA Art in...

In this episode, we are going to celebrate World Malaria Day with our co-host and guests. This year's theme is Time to Deliver Zero Malaria, and it is focused on investing, innovating, and implementing tools that are available today and innovating for future tools. WHO calls to action include prioritising funding for the most marginalised and hard to reach populations who are less able to access services and are the hardest hit when it comes to becoming ill from malaria. To help us understand more, we have co-host, Dr. Hellen Barsosio, who is a medical Kenyan doctor who has been investigating risk factors, tools, and interventions to prevent adverse birth outcomes, and more recently research on preventing malaria in pregnancy. She is in her final year of her PhD at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine under the Department of Clinical Science, where her PhD focuses on new drugs to prevent malaria in pregnancy. The WHO also calls for stepping up innovation for new vector control approaches, so we have two guests with us today to help us to understand what those are. We will be speaking to reader and Wolfson Fellow, Dr. Grant Hughes, and reader, Dr. Tony Nolan from the Vector Biology and Tropical Disease Biology Department at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Tony has led the development of genetic tools to better understand the biology of mosquitoes that transmit malaria, and this has led to the development of genetic approaches to control mosquito populations. This is to decrease the amount of malaria transmission. Tony is also using some of these tools to understand how insecticides work, and in particular, how mosquitoes can evolve resistance to insecticides. Grant is currently focusing on novel control strategies for arboviruses and malaria, and his overarching goal is to develop approaches which will either reduce mosquito numbers, or stop these mosquitoes transmitting the pathogens that make people ill. This episode features: Dr Hellen Barsosio - Clinical Research Scientist and section Head Maternal and New-born Health Studies, Malaria Program, KEMRI-CGHR Over the past 11 years, Hellen has been investigating risk factors, tools and interventions to prevent adverse birth outcomes, and more recently research on preventing malaria in pregnancy as one of the causes of adverse birth outcomes in malaria endemic areas. She trained in Kenya as a medical doctor, and did her post-graduate studies at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and University of Oxford. She is in the final year of her PhD at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine under the department of Clinical Science where her PhD work focuses on new drugs to prevent malaria in pregnancy. Dr Tony Nolan - Reader in Insect Genetics and Research Group Leader, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Tony has led the development of genetic tools to better understand the biology of mosquitoes that transmit malaria. This has led to the development of genetic approaches to control mosquito populations, in order to decrease the amount of malaria transmission. Tony is also using some of these genetic tools to understand how insecticides work and, in particular, how mosquitoes can evolve resistance to insecticides. Dr Grant Hughes - Reader and Royal Society Wolfson Fellow, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Grant has been investigating the use of microbes to control mosquito-borne diseases for over 15 years. After undertaking a PhD at the University of Queensland in Australia looking at microbial control of crop pests, Grant moved to the US to complete a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to examine how a bacteria called Wolbachia infected mosquitoes and interacted with Plasmodium parasites, the parasites that cause Malaria. After further work at Penn State University, working on...

In this episode we are celebrating World TB Day, this year’s campaign is ‘YES! We Can End TB’ and is all about solidarity and collective action. It centres on the increased engagement of those affected by TB, communities and civil society that are leading the movement towards ending this disease.This episode features the LIGHT consortium which aims to provide new evidence on the effectiveness of different gender-sensitive pathways and approaches to health for those with TB in urban, HIV-prevalent settings across Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi and Kenya. Our co-host Samara Barnes, who has lived experience of TB in the UK, speaks with researchers Toyosi Adekeye in Nigeria and Jasper Nidoi in Uganda from the LIGHT consortium about the ways they are enaging with affected communities in their work. Samara also shares her experience from the UK and the conversation reflects on the differences of TB across contexts. In this episode we are celebrating World TB Day, this year’s campaign is ‘YES! We Can End TB’ and is all about solidarity and collective action. It centres on the increased engagement of those affected by TB, communities and civil society that are leading the movement towards ending this disease.This episode features the LIGHT consortium which aims to provide new evidence on the effectiveness of different gender-sensitive pathways and approaches to health for those with TB in urban, HIV-prevalent settings across Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi and Kenya. Our co-host, Samara Barnes, who has lived experience of TB in the UK speaks with researchers Toyosi Adekeye in Nigeria and Jasper Nidoi in Uganda from the LIGHT consortium about the ways they are engaging with affected communities in their work. Samara also shares her experience from the UK and the conversation reflects on the differences of TB across contexts. This episode features:Samara Barnes Affected Community Co-Lead at the UK Academics and Professionals to End TB (UKAPTB)Samara is an Affected Community Co-Lead at the UK Academics and Professionals to End TB (UKAPTB). She was diagnosed with active pulmonary TB in late 2015 and it was discovered she was also drug resistant as her treatment went on. Until that point, Samara knew little about the illness apart from the fact that her Grandad had died of TB many years previously. Samara has raised money for TB Alert and has been part of their peer supporter programme too. She has also studied and written papers on the Global disparities in TB treatment. It is important for Samara to raise awareness of this illness, be an advocate for reducing the stigma surrounding it and to encourage decision makers in the UK to ensure they keep to their commitment of a year on year reduction of TB and contribute to the WHO's commitment to eliminate TB by 2035. Samara works for a national children's charity and is also a borough and county councilor.Dr Jasper Nidoi - Early Career Researcher, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, U.K and Makerere University Lung Institute, Uganda.Jasper Nidoi is a Ugandan medical doctor with specialist training in health economics and health systems and policy research from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. For over 5 years, she has been involved in the design and implementation of clinical trials that have evaluated drugs for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in Uganda. She is a health economist on a clinical trial that is evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of standardized medication for MDR-TB. She was a co-investigator in a study that evaluated the impact of socio-economic factors on tuberculosis treatment outcomes in one of the poorest regions in Uganda. Her research interests are in the socio-economic determinants of health as they pertain to tuberculosis and the use of decision-analytic models to systematically synthesise data for the economic evaluation of...

In this episode we are celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD). This year’s theme is #EmbraceEquity and aims to get the world talking about why "equal opportunities are no longer enough" - and can in fact be exclusionary, rather than inclusive.We will be discussing the differences between the terms equity and equality and why is it important to understand, acknowledge and value this.Definitions of these terms are provided by IWD campaign, they highlight the differences. • Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.• Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.To explore what this means in reality, we have two guests who will speak about the work they are doing to promote equity. They unearth differences as well as similarities across their respective contexts, but draw the same conclusions, “... it's a process. It takes time. You do get some gains and you should celebrate those. So don't feel frustrated and its small steps and nudging and knowing who to reach out to. Most importantly, listening to the voice of the community and those that we want to work with, that's the most critical part”.About our guests:Dr Lilian Otiso - Executive Director, LVCT HealthDr. Lilian Otiso is the Executive Director of LVCT Health, a large Kenyan NGO that carries out programs on HIV, sexual & reproductive health, gender-based violence, mental health and community health reaching over 1 million individuals annually. She is a medical doctor with an MBA in Health Care Management currently pursuing a PhD in Global Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Her PhD topic is on accountability for universal health coverage among pregnant adolescents/teenage mothers. Lilian has over 15 years’ clinical, programming and research experience in government and NGO sectors at senior management level. She has been a Principle Investigator and co-investigator of several research studies. She is passionate about the community and has conducted several studies and projects on community health. She has contributed to Kenyan and global WHO guidelines and policies and published several documents and peer reviewed articles. She is the winner of the Trocaire Oscar Romero Award 2021 for protecting vulnerable communities during COVID 19.Dr. Renu Khosla - Director, Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE)Dr. Kholsa is the Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE). Her core values are designed to include, level-up and connect urban low-income communities. She seeks to unthink and reimagine slum development; nudging a change from top-down to bottom-up and state to people-led development. Her work is aimed at strengthening local government capacity for: participative planning, information visualization and analytics using spatial and social media technologies, localizing and de-engineering solutions and strategies and simplifying institutions. Her work has led to deepening of the policy discourse on urban poor and access to services. Want to hear more podcasts like this?Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics.    If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency.

In this episode we celebrate International Women’s Day by revealing the hidden gender inequities that lead to gender-based violence and more importantly what can be done to instigate change.It is the first of two episodes celebrating International Women’s Day and features a Kenyan community based participatory research project by Beate Ringwald (PhD student) from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine who worked in partnership with LVCT Health (including our guests) and 11 community co-researchers from Gitathuru village in Korogocho. The study aimed to strengthen community capacity to prevent intimate partner violence and HIV.Veronica Mwania and Maria Muthoki take us through a participatory research journey, discussing the ways that they engaged co-researchers whilst considering and addressing power structures of inequity. They talk about how knowledge was generated through creativity, dialogue and awareness raising which was embedded and transferred to communities through drama, word of mouth and art. More about our guests:Maria Muthoki – Researcher, Kemri, LVCT, Infinite Insight (among others)Maria Muthoki is a freelance researcher based in Nairobi, Kenya and has 14 of years of professional research experience. She has done both social and market research, involving mainly qualitative and sometimes quantitative methods. Maria Muthoki worked with LVCT Health, as part of the Accountability for Informal Urban Equity Hub (ARISE), to support this community-based participatory PhD study on the intersections of HIV and intimate partner violence in an informal settlement in Nairobi. She worked with a diverse group of community co-researchers from an informal settlement. While her main role was documentation and management of data, she also supported co-researchers to analyse data and disseminate findings. Maria loves talking to people and understanding their viewpoint on the studies that she conducts.Veronicah Mwania - Independent Researcher, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Veronica Mwania has a background in applied psychology and has been an independent researcher for 17 years in Kenya. She has worked for LVCT Health on various research studies, including the participatory study that we will be hearing about in this episode. She is currently working with the Kenya Medical Research Institute on a study involving mental health screening for adolescents who are living with HIV. Veronica’s work in this project blended intersectionality and participatory research approaches working with a diverse group of community co-researchers who were equal partners in the research process. Intersectionality links theory and action – the formation of theory through practice by marginalised groups and the use of knowledge to challenge inequalities in everyday life. By applying a participatory health research approach, the team sought to mitigate the risk of their research being a closed space, reproducing unequal power structures, and being irrelevant. In line with participatory and intersectionality research guidelines, they paid attention to power, time, space, and diversity of knowledge; and promoted reflexivity, equity, and opportunities for collective action. Useful links:• A research journey that brought power theories to life: Lessons from Korogocho, Kenya | ARISE [Blog]• The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on community-based participatory research: Reflections from a study in an...

We have a really important episode for you as we approach World Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) day on 30th January calling for all to act together and act now.We are going to be talking about female genital schistosomiasis, which affects approximately 56 million girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa. Host, Kim Ozano is joined by co-host Pamela Mbabazi from the United Nations with guests; Rhoda Ndubani, who is a study manager for a female sexual reproductive health screening programme for FGS in Zambia, Christine Masong, who is a PhD student with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine undertaking research in Cameroon, exploring how culture and the social structures affect illness experiences and treatment pathways of girls and women with FGS, and finally, Dr. Victoria Gamba, who is a gynaecologist and advocate for FGS awareness based in Kenya. If you would like to understand more about FGS, here's some resources for you:A call to action for universal health coverage: Why we need to address gender inequities in the neglected tropical diseases community https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7067373/Discussion paper the gender dimensions of neglected tropical diseases from the Access and Delivery Partnership in partnership with LSTM https://adphealth.org/upload/resource/2523_ADP_Discussion_Paper_NTDs_211119_web.pdfUseful factsheets on FGS:Japanese: https://adphealth.org/upload/resource/2523_ADP_Discussion_Paper_NTDs_211119_web.pdfEnglish: https://adphealth.org/upload/resource/2658_ADP_NTDs_and_Gender_factsheet_280120.pdfMore about our guests;Dr. Pamela Sabina Mbabazi - Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), WHO headquarters in GenevaPresently, Pamela is working as a medical epidemiologist in the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Her current research interests include strengthening monitoring and evaluation for neglected tropical diseases programmes particularly in vulnerable populations with a focus on women and children, notably for female genital schistosomiasis (FGS).She has authored several publications in peer reviewed journals, mainly related to methodologies for tracking public health gains for neglected tropical diseases and the effects of co-morbidities.Dr. Victoria Gamba - Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Private Practice/Ministry of Health Kenya/University of NairobiPassionate about participatory efforts to reduce and eliminate vaccine preventable illnesses and an advocate of gender equality and promoting sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls, Victoria is a resident obstetrician and gynaecologist at a private health group and a part time consultant with the Ministry of Health Department of Vector-borne and neglected tropical diseases in collaboration with LVCT-health Kenya.Rhoda Ndubani -Study Manager, Zambart Rhoda is the study manager at Zambart on a study called ‘Zipime Weka Schista’, a longitudinal Cohort Study focusing on Integrating Female Sexual Reproductive Health Screening in Zambia focused on one-stop self-sampling for schistosomiasis and other genital infections. The aim of the study is to develop a holistic approach for the community-based diagnosis of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) through a comprehensive package for sexual and reproductive health screening including human papillomavirus (HPV), sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV and Schistosomiasis across endemicity settings (from high to low transmission) in Zambia. The duration of the study is from 2021 to 2025. And they aim to recruit 2500 women in the cohort. The women are screened for FGS and HPV using self-sampling in the household and at the health facility. The women are provided with...

We have a conversation including our first citizen scientist to kick of 2023. Lou Kellett is an active participant in the Liverpool School of Tropical medicine Swab and Send programme, which is striving to find the next breakthrough in bacteria to defeat antimicrobial resistance. We also hear from Dr. Adam Roberts, the creator of the programme, and Dr. Amy McLeman, who is taking the bacteria that shows promising results, through to the next stage of investigation in the lab. Swab and Send is an innovative programme that relies on the anticipation of citizens to infinitely broaden the search for a solution to the AMR problem.Amy provides us with an insight:“Antimicrobials can be produced by bacteria or fungus from anywhere; from the soil in your local park to your kitchen sink. These are just two of the places we are looking for the next new antibiotics and it works! We are finding microbes producing interesting antimicrobials that our team are working on characterising, but did you know it can take 10-15 years and over $1.7 billion to develop a new antibiotic from discovery to market. Even then once a new antibiotic is being sold the investment return is less than $50 million on average each year. Research and development costs massively outweigh the financial return”. About our guests: Dr. Adam Roberts – Reader, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineAdam Roberts leads a research group investigating various aspects of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) from molecular biology and evolution of transferable AMR to genomic surveillance and antimicrobial drug discovery.Dr. Amy McLeman - Postdoctoral Research Associate, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineAmy works as a postdoctoral research associate on discovery and characterisation of novel antimicrobials from environmental isolates. Her work includes outreach to individuals and communities to communicate the importance of AMR and what Swab and Send is doing to tackle this, and to also encourage involvement of the public to take swabs of everything and anything and send them into us to look for the next antibiotic.Lou Kellett – Active Citizen Scientists, Wales, UKLou has worked in local food and farming business for the last couple of decades, including organic farming. An active participant in many citizen science projects, Lou is particularly enthusiastic about the swab and send programme as it creates the opportunity for to share the unique local environmental habitats with the wider world. Lou finds being an active citizen scientist is a great way satiate a hungry sense of curiosity. Relevant links:https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/public-engagement/swab-send                                    https://www.facebook.com/swabandsend/https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/fsoa-2020-0053#SwabAndSendWant to hear more podcasts like this?Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about the methods and approaches that researchers apply to connect with communities and co-produce solutions to global health challenges. The podcast covers wide ranging topics such as NTD’s, NCD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change, all linked to community engagement and power dynamics.    If you would like your own project or programme to feature in an episode, get in touch with producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, The SCL Agency.

In this celebratory episode to close out 2022, we have brought together previous co-hosts and guests to reflect on what we have learned over the past year. We examine our learning along the translational research pathway.  The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have a translational research trajectory; that means there is a continuum of science from basic research and labs to embedding change for communities and within sustainable policies and practices. LSTM works with a range of partners globally along this continuum, and in this episode, we will be hearing from some of those that have worked with LSTM and have different positions within programmes and PhDs. Our multidisciplinary guests share their understanding of community engagement and how they ensure that community voice is included in research design, analysis and outcomes throughout the research pathway. This episode features: Beatrice Egid – MRC PhD Student, Liverpool School of Tropical MedicineIn 2017, Beatrice completed a BA in Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford. She began an MSc in Tropical Disease Biology at LSTM in September 2018, during which she undertook a research project determining the level of insecticide resistance in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Accra, Ghana, and the metabolic mechanisms driving it. Beatrice started the MRC Doctoral Training Programme at LSTM, with an integrated MRes at Lancaster University in Global Health: Quantitative and Translational Skills, in 2019.Beatrice is undertaking her PhD as part of the ARISE project. Within ARISE, Beatrice's project focuses on vector-borne diseases in waste-picking communities in Vijayawada, India. She will be employing a mixed-methods approach, combining aspects of entomology and policy analysis alongside qualitative and participatory methods. Beatrice has a strong interest in health policy and co-production research approaches. She conducted a desk-based policy project exploring the intersection between vector-borne diseases and city resilience in the context of the Resilient Cities Network (RCN), and has published two papers from her MRes qualitative research project investigating power dynamics in participatory research.Dr. Oluwatosin Adekeye - Assistant Director of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry Ahmadu Bello University Hospital Zaria KadunaA social scientist with varied experience in both clinical and research aspects of health among communities in Northern Nigeria. As a Clinical Psychologist, his work has been both on mental and behavioural disorders and the effects of chronic disease on the well-being of patients and caregivers. As a Social Scientist, he just concluded a study that documented the well-being of people with stigmatizing skin diseases and established a care and support group within the community. More recently he is working on developing a well-being tool for parents and children with disability.  Dr Akinola Oluwole – Consultant, Sightsavers, NigeriaDr Akinola Oluwole is an experienced researcher with a special interest in socio-epidemiology of tropical infectious diseases. His multidisciplinary expertise includes spatial disease mapping, monitoring and evaluation of intervention and control programmes and implementation/Health systems research for public health and disease control. He has over Fifteen years’ experience working on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). Recently, Dr Akinola was the programme lead for two Co-production research projects within the COUNTDOWN consortia, one to develop a care package for Female Genital Schistosomiasis and a second to improve the equity of mass drug administration in Nigeria. Both projects utilised...

In this week's episode, we are talking to the Tupumue Project, who applied creative participatory methods alongside clinical data to understand how many children, in two communities in Nairobi, Kenya have lung problems, and to explore children's experiences of lung problems and air pollution. The project used a variety of creative research methods including drawings, drama, walking interviews with go pros, comics, graffiti and others. They even engaged children in co- analysis and theme development.  Co-host for this episode, Dr. Hellen Meme, told us more about the programme; “The choice of the word “Tupumue” (meaning “lets breathe”!) as an identity of the program was because breathing is a function important to all. The Tupumue programme was a complex undertaking considering the broadness of the subject that was covered, in regard to establishing the burden of non-communicable lung diseases in school children and risk factors in both an informal and formal community context. The necessary skill pool had to be wide to achieve this and hence the broad collaboration involving a multidisciplinary team derived from several North and South institutions. For everyone to own the study, we held consultative meetings through which we established a niche for everyone to participate. We are in the process of widely disseminating our study findings and are currently sharing our results with all stakeholders including participating schools and the community in order to get their views on the findings before we engage policy makers”.  This episode features: Dr. Hellen Meme (co-host) - Chief Research Scientist, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Hellen Meme’s research work spans over 30 years and involves health and communities. Her research area of interest is in respiratory diseases with bias towards conducting  research in congregate communities. This necessitates a broad skill base as well as innovation in planning approaches appropriate for project implementation. In this regard, engagement of community and other stakeholders is key.  Dr Sarah West - Centre Director and Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York Sarah has been using citizen science approaches since she began work at SEI York in 2008, working on topics ranging from air pollution and biodiversity through to parenting and food waste. All her work uses citizen science approaches to engage a diverse range of people with research. She uses this approach because she believes that well designed projects can have huge benefits for advancing research and for making a difference for all those involved in projects. She also conducts research around the method of citizen science, looking at who is and isn’t participating in projects, and evaluating projects’ efficacy.  Relevant links: https://www.sei.org/featured/citizen-science-month/ Fred Orina - Senior Research Scientist, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Fred’s interest is research implementation. He has 10 years’ experience in coordinating the implementation of human health research, with a focus on lung health studies in both static and nomadic communities. This involves liaising with communities and diverse stakeholders. With a scientific background, he acts as the interlink between the community, researchers, and the sponsor. Professor Graham Devereux - Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Graham is a Professor of Respiratory Medicine with research interests in the antenatal influences on the life course of airways disease and clinical trials in COPD.  He...

In this episode we hear about a participatory action research project in Guatemala, funded by the Director's Catalyst Fund at LSTM, that co-designed a tool for health leaders and community partners to assess and improve urban health governance.  The project was based in two Guatemalan urban municipalities; Villa Nueva and Mixco. We speak with Guillermo Hegel, the project lead who was also the Health Director at Villa Nueva Municipality at the time of the project. We also hear from Yaimie Lopez and Cintia Cansado who coordinated and evaluated the project. They share their experience of participatory research and working with policy makers.  The research team together with co-researchers who were urban health stakeholders looked at 4 domains, Governance, leadership accountability and multi-sectoral action. They first defined what these terms were, then they co-analysed existing tools to measure governance performance and designed an online tool which could be used to rank current performance and areas for improvement which could then track over time.  The tool involved a number of qualitative questions that required discussions and reflections about governance in their work and required a level of trust and transparency which is further explored by our guests.  This Episode features: Wesam Mansour (co-host) - Health Systems Researcher, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Wesam is a Health System Researcher with research expertise in health workforce and health systems strengthening in fragile contexts using qualitative research and participatory action research approaches. Her work includes working in the areas of gender, equity and justice and how to apply those concepts to develop gender-equitable, resilient and inclusive health systems. She is currently working, in LSTM, on the ReBUILD4Resilience project which is health system research in Fragile and Shock-Prone (FASP) settings in 4 countries (Nepal, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, and Lebanon). In ReBUILD, they worked with the Close to Community (CTC) providers in FASP settings to explore how participatory action research can support CTC providers to address gender norms and power relations within their communities and in the health systems in Lebanon and Nepal. Links:LSTM - Wesam MansourReBUILD Consortium ReBUILD - Gender ProjectGuillermo Hegel, Project Coordinator, INCAP Since 2020 Guillermo has been a researcher at CIIPEC. He coordinates a participatory action research project in collaboration with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. From 2014 to early 2020, he was health director of the municipality of Villa Nueva, Guatemala. A core part of his tasks was to articulate 'Health-in-All Policies' and to improve the primary health care system in urban setting through participatory processes. Between 2008-2013, he worked at PAHO/WHO Guatemala, as an advisor for social determinants of health and the ´Healthy Cities´ initiative, leading and contributing to several programs in Guatemala and Latin America. He began his career in public health in 2000, promoting small-scale projects at the...

Our team of podcasters were roaming the halls of HSR2022, the Seventh Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, capturing the conversations ‘in the halls’ after the sessions, with a focus on community engagement. In this final HSR2022 episode, host Kim Ozano and guests share their thoughts and takeaways from the conference.  Our host, Kim, presented at HSR2022 sessions as part of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s (LSTM) cohort.  As LSTM mark 125 years of global health research and look to the next 125 years, she summarises  the themes that reoccurred in conversation with other delegates and presenters.  This Episode features:Host of Connecting Citizens to Science podcast: Dr Kim Ozano – Research Director, the SCL Agency Bea Egid (co-host) -  MRC PhD Student, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Jhaki A. Mendoza – Research Associate, University of the Philippines  Maria Van Der Merwe -  Research Coordinator, VAPARVivek Dsouza – Research officer, Institute of Public Health, Bangalore Kara Hanson - Professor of Health System Economics and Dean, Faculty of Public Health & Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform to hear our equitable global health research podcast connect discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change linked to health.

Our team of podcasters were roaming the halls of HSR2022, capturing the thoughts and takeways of the presenters and delegates after the sessions, with a focus on community engagement. In today’s special episode we have: Professor Anuj Kapilashrami – Professor in Global Health Policy & Equity, University of Essex Dr Reza Majdzadeh – Senior Lecturer in Global Public Health, University of Essex Dr Neethi V Rao – Consultant, WHO We will compile and share further conversations and insights from the symposium over the coming weeks.  Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform to hear our equitable global health research podcast connect discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change linked to health.

Our team of podcasters are roaming the halls of HSR2022 to bring you the thoughts and takeways of the presenters and delegates after the sessions, with a focus on community engagement.In today’s special episode (capturing thoughts from 02/11/22) we have:Dr. Dheepa Rajan - Health Systems Adviser, WHO Dr. Anne Musuva – Country Director, ThinkWellRachael Farquhar – Senior Research Officer, Burnet InstituteMore conference coverage coming your way throughout the week!Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform to hear our equitable global health research podcast connect discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change linked to health.

Our team of podcasters are roaming the halls of HSR2022 to bring you the thoughts and takeways of the presenters and delegates after the sessions, with a focus on community engagement. In today’s special episode we have: Dr. Lathadevi Chilgod – Public Health Researcher , Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, India Germań Alaracoń – Research Assistant, University College London & Universidad de los Andes Meena Putturaj – PhD Scholar, Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, India Daniela DaCosta – Epidemiologist, the Unit of Medical Anthropology    More conference coverage coming your way throughout the week! Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform to hear our equitable global health research podcast connect discussing how researchers connect with communities and people to co-develop solutions to global health challenges. The series covers wide ranging topics such as TB, NTD’s, antenatal and postnatal care, mental wellbeing and climate change linked to health.