devinitorg/iati-policy-markers huggingface dataset:
Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown cause (CKDu) in disadvantaged communities in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) There is an epidemic of primarily tubular-interstitial chronic kidney disease (CKD) clustering in agricultural communities in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). This was featured recently in Science which reported previous work of some of the current applicants. Although it is currently unclear whether there is a unified underlying aetiology, these conditions have been collectively termed CKD of unknown cause (CKDu). CKDu is estimated to have led to the premature deaths of  tens to hundreds of thousands of young men and women in LMICs over the last two decades. Thus, there is an urgent need to understand the aetiology and pathophysiology of these condition(s) and to develop preventive interventions.  Currently it is known that CKDu exists in Central America and mainly affects male rural agricultural workers. It may also be occurring in other tropical/subtropical parts of the world, but standardized data are not available for comparison, and also it is not known which population subgroups it affects. Obtaining this information is an essential step towards discovering the cause(s) of CKDu.  We have recently established a partnership involving a practical protocol to estimate distributions of renal function in disadvantaged communities: the Disadvantaged populations estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) epidemiology study (DEGREE). This will provide key information to inform hypotheses and to guide further research into the causes of CKDu.   The Foundation Award will enable this partnership to make a step-change by implementing the prevalence survey protocol (and a related validation study) in four centres (India, Malawi, Peru, Mexico) in three tropical/subtropical regions (Asia, Africa, and Latin America) where the disease is likely to be endemic. This will provide the basis for developing further studies to discover the cause(s) of CKDu, and developing interventions to prevent it. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Improving the primary health care response to violence against women in low and middle income countries Violence against women is a violation of human rights and threatens the status, health and well-being of women. Overall, 35% of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence, with a higher prevalence in most low and middle income countries (LMIC). Violence against women damages women's health. Women who have been have been physically and/or sexually abused by their partner are twice as likely to have an abortion, twice as likely to suffer from depression and in some regions 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV compared to women who have not experienced such violence. They are also 16% more likely to deliver a low birth weight baby. In addition, children who are exposed to violence against their mothers are more likely to experience long term damage to their health and development. Therefore, prevention of violence against women and development of a health care response is a global priority.   This study aims to understand how primary healthcare systems in low and middle income countries can develop and evaluate interventions for violence against women that link with community services. The research will build on existing research collaborations with academics,  health care providers and violence against women services in  the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Brazil. The research aims to address the following:  1) Explore to what extent the primary health care system in Palestine and Brazil can identify women who are affected by violence and abuse and offer support and referrals to services that can help them.  2) Draw on a proven UK intervention and adapt it to the Palestinian and Brazilian context through discussions with local stakeholders.  3) Pilot test the agreed intervention.  The findings of the research will be of benefit to violence against women and health systems researchers worldwide. It will also be of benefit to health policy makers and health care practitioners who want to develop a health care response to violence against women. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Iraqibacter: Exploring the Links Between War and Antimicrobial Resistance WHO and the G20 have identified the growing threats of Anti-Microbial resistance (AMR) as a major concern that will define the future of global health. Despite these urgent calls, the emergence of AMR in settings of war and distress migration has not been systematically explored. Case reports from Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Afghanistan have shown the proliferation of AMR in combatants and civilians injured in these protracted conflicts. With regional conflicts spreading across state borders as well as one of the largest global refugee crises in decades, AMR in the context of conflict has come to pose a serious threat both regionally and internationally. So began penicillin in the Second World War: antibiotics arose in war. Today, in the context of long-running military conflicts we see harbingers of the end of antibiotics. The core question underpinning this proposal is how war, particularly weapons and the industrialised, urbanised context of contemporary conflicts, drives antibiotic resistance by contaminating the environment and the human and non-human organisms that live there. So far, there has been no systematic or holistic consideration of the environmental health impacts of contemporary conflicts conducted in cities.  Our program draws together scholars working in the fields of medicine, anthropology, history of science, ethics, epidemiology, microbiology, molecular biology, and environmental sciences to examine the specific intersection of antibiotic resistance and war. Rather than focus on antibiotic resistance as a universal problem afflicting modern societies in general, we focus first on the impact of global conflict on antibiotic resistance more holistically, and second on the case of multi-drug resistant Acinetobacer baumanii (MDRAB), initially reported by American military surgeons under the moniker Iraqibacter, and that has been identified recently by the WHO as a "critical pathogen" for research and the development of new antibiotics. We will focus on a number of specific countries - Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, and Lebanon-places with history of protracted conflicts and with different, yet overlapping, ecologies of war.  The potential global health significance of conflict-related heavy metal mediated antimicrobial resistance is enormous and warrants further study. It will contribute to the field of environmental pathways for antimicrobial resistance more broadly as well as informing the specific intersection of war and antibiotic resistance. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
KC Jambo, Malawi College of Medicine - Defining changes in nasal immunity that favour propensity for pneumococcal colonisation in HIV-infected adults The bacterium, Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), is the major cause of pneumonia-related deaths worldwide. The pneumococcus resides in the nose and at the back of the throat, where it does not normally cause disease, but when conditions change it causes life-threatening illness, such as pneumonia. The pneumococcus is transmitted from person to person via the respiratory route. In Europe and North America, immunisation of children with the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) has greatly reduced the burden of pneumococcal disease and prevalence of the pneumococcus in the community because children no longer infect adults. Similar impact has not been observed in low income countries, such as Malawi, because children continue to carry pneumococci even after vaccination. Instead, the prevalence of the pneumococcus among HIV-infected adults on antiretroviral therapy (ART) has remained high despite the introduction of PCV13 as routine childhood vaccine in Malawi in 2011. Persistence of pneumococcus among HIV-infected adults on ART threatens to reverse the potential public health benefits of PCV13 that have been reported from high income countries. HIV-infected adults on ART serve as a haven for pneumococcus and may promote transmission of the bacterium in the community. However, the factors that promote persistence of pneumococcus among HIV-infected adults on ART are still unknown. I propose to recruit 100 Malawian adults, of which half will be HIV-uninfected and the other half will be ART-naïve HIV-infected. I will collect samples from the nose from all study participants and follow them up for 12months. I will quantify the number of times an individual is found with the pneumococcus in their nose, and compare this between the study groups. I will also investigate differences in immune parameters in the nose between the study groups. This comparison will also focus on relating the changes in the immune parameters in the nose with the number of times an individual is found with the pneumococcus in their nose. This will generate information on some of the factors that make HIV-infected infected adults on ART more susceptible to the pneumococcus. Furthermore, I will grow cells obtained from the nose of HIV-infected and uninfected adults in laboratory to generate a deeper understanding of how they interact with pneumococcus. I anticipate that this research study will will improve current understanding of why the pneumococcus is persistently found among HIV-infected adults on ART. This work will allow choices in optimal therapy against HIV and optimal vaccination strategies against pneumococcus, that could significantly impact pneumococcal transmission and disease in high transmission settings. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Gambia Unit - Covid 19 MRC Contribution to the Gambi Unit to fund research on Covid-19 The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Can improved housing provide additional protection against clinical malaria over current best practice? A household-randomised controlled trial Malaria remains one of the greatest threats to global public health, with 207 million cases of falciparum malaria and 627,000 deaths occurring in 2012, with over 80% of deaths occurring in Africa. More than 80% of malaria is transmitted indoors at night, so the number of malaria mosquitoes which enter a house is critical for getting the disease - with people living in 'leaky' houses being at most risk. We have shown that closing the eaves (the gap between the top of the wall and the roof) and screening a house can reduce dramatically the number of malaria vectors entering a house. Here we propose to find out whether we can protect children against malaria by modifying half the study houses so that they (1) have a metal roof, (2) closed eaves, (3) screened doors and windows and (4) screened-air bricks which allow the warm air to rise out of the house, but not let any mosquitoes indoors. The other study houses will be left with thatched roofs and open eaves and the children in these houses will serve as a comparison group.  Over the past thirty years a silent revolution in house design has been happening across Africa. The traditional thatched-roofed houses are being replaced steadily by metal-roofed houses as the continent develops. We hope to ride this wave of cultural change and further improve the design of houses to make them healthier to live in. Improved housing has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of Peruvian Older Adults. MRC GECO COVID award in understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of Peruvian Older Adults COVID-19 The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
ODA Programmes within MRC Clinical Trials Unit The MRC Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) is a centre of excellence for clinical trials, meta-analyses and epidemiological studies. Resolving internationally important questions in infectious diseases, specialising in HIV/AIDS, TB and cancer.  Delivering swifter The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
The Dynamics of Filovirus Infection in bats in Ghana GCRF Foundation Infections 2016 to determine key aspects of the dynamics of filovirus infections in reservoir bat species in Ghana, to identify the optimal local means of avoiding spill over of infection into humans, or into 'bridging' domestic animals or The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Exploring treatment burden and capacity for self care among patients with HIV/NCD multimorbidity in South Africa to inform interventions (EXTRA) South Africa (SA) and other sub-Saharan African countries are experiencing a double burden of chronic disease epidemics: one of infectious disease, most notably HIV, and the other, a rapidly evolving epidemic of non- communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This is resulting in different patterns of multi-morbidities (two or more simultaneously occurring long term diseases or conditions) to those commonly seen in high income countries. Concerningly, these chronic diseases are being increasingly seen in younger people, which has implications for their families, economic productivity and healthcare costs.  Currently, chronic healthcare for patients with multimorbidity in SA is fragmented and uncoordinated and does not take into account the increased challenges the patient faces in trying to manage their conditions. The primary aim of this Seed Funding Application is to identify and understand the illness 'workload' experienced by patients with HIV/NCD multimorbidity, as well as their caregivers. This information will be used to ensure that the patient perspective is fully considered in the healthcare reform initiatives that are currently underway in SA, which aim to improve chronic care services. A further aim is to explore the relevance and applicability of existing models that explain the workload involved in NCD treatment and patients' capacity to deal with it. Existing models have been developed in high income countries and we are interested to adapt them to our setting so that they can inform future research and interventions in South Africa and potentially in other low-and middle- income countries.  We will use interviews and discussion groups for this study. We will interview a range of patients and their care givers to explore how they experience self-management workload and their capacity to deal with it. This will be in both an urban and rural setting in the Western Cape province as for example, peoples' access to services may differ. We will then recruit healthcare managers, doctors, nurses and community health workers from the same settings into 'task groups' to discuss these findings and consider what they mean for the redesign of local services and interventions that might reduce patient burden and increase their capacity. We will also hold further meetings to present our findings to policy and health managers at a provincial and national level to influence reforms in the health system.  This project will help us develop a culturally and contextually appropriate model of HIV/NCD workload and capacity for a low -to- middle income setting such as SA. This work will contribute to development of interventions that can then be tested across different settings. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Global mechanisms for control of the trypanosome proteome: Defining the composition, origins and roles of cullin E3 ligases. Parasitic protozoa are major agents of disease, and afflict a major proportion of the global population. In evolutionary terms parasites are highly removed from their hosts, and this is frequently reflected in the presence of unique or unusual mechanisms that underpin their biology. This aspect presents multiple opportunities for the understanding of pathogenesis, the possibility of identifying therapeutic targets as well as offering a fascinating evolutionary perspective on many cellular processes.   African trypanosomes are totally reliant on antigenic variation for their longterm survival. The process is so successful that trypanosomes can infect a mammalian host for many months and in some cases years/decades. Additional immune evasion mechanisms, which defend the parasite against components of both the innate and acquired arms of the host immune response, require surface or endosome-located proteins. We have recently made three significant advances in understanding the cell biology that underpins these immune evasion processes;   1. Characterisation of the cell surface proteome, which revealed both remarkable diversity from higher eukaryotes and even from other trypanosomatids such as American trypanosomes,   2. Demonstration of partitioning of surface components into at least four distinct micro-domains - surface, flagellar pocket, flagellum and endosome, with some proteins exhibiting a combination between all four, and   3. Identifying components of the ubiquitylation machinery that control the expression levels of surface proteins.    These new insights open a route to understanding how the unique pathogenic surface of African trypanosomes is regulated at the molecular level, together with dissecting how such regulation contributes towards basic biology and pathogenesis. Coupled with this is the means to exploit proteomics technology and insights developed recently to understand in a more global manner regulation of the trypanosome cellular proteome.   We propose to interrogate in detail how a group of trypanosome ubiquitin ligases, called cullins, function in this context. Ubiquitin is a major mediator of protein turnover pathways, with the cullin group especially important due to roles in surface receptor turnover and modulation of cell cycle progression. Given the amenability of the trypanosome for genetic manipulation, the comparatively small size of the proteome and the emphasis on post-transcriptional and translation-linked mechanisms to control protein expression levels, we propose that the trypanosome provides a very attractive approach to understand these ubiquitylating complexes, their functional stratification and specificity, in addition to how they contribute towards trypanosome biology and infectivity. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Development & validation of a scalable mobile platform for screening of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders in low-resource settings GCRF Foundation NCDs 2016 developing a platform to evaluate Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in children in India. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Integrated Health, education and environmental (HEE) intervention to optimise infant feeding practices through schools and Anganwadi networks in India GCRF Foundation NCDs 2016 examining methods enhancing feeding practices for children 6-24 months. Directly benefiting residents in 9 rural communities in Banswara district in Rajasthan India. Supporting mothers to improve living conditions and lifestyle i The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Human challenge with live-attenuated rotavirus to assess next-generation rotavirus vaccines in Africa MRC IIB award looking at Human challenge with live-attenuated rotavirus to assess next-generation rotavirus vaccines in Africa The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
Streamlined TB Diagnosis and Treatment Streamlined TB Diagnosis and Treatment - proposed pilot study of the feasibility and cost of the intervention at 4 primary health centres (2 urban and 2 rural) affiliated with a central facility that has implemented Xpert testing as part of Uganda’s national scale-up of the technology The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.
REBRACOVID' - multicentre cohort study of the natural history and immunology of COVID-19 in Brazil MRC GECO COVID award to better understand susceptibility and mechanisms underlying this disease, drawing on specific insights from the serious situation in Brazil to impact local management of the response. COVID-19 The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.