NIHR 5S Foundation

The Social Sciences for Severe Stigmatising Skin Conditions (5S) Foundation at BSMS was established in 2019 and will run until August 2023. The programme is a £3.5 million collaborative research partnership between BSMS and the Faculty of Geographical and Environmental Sciences, University of Khartoum, the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) based at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, the University of Rwanda and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS).

The 5S Foundation launched in 2019

Our vision is a Foundation that will end neglect of three conditions (podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies) through bringing the social sciences to bear on these conditions in our DAC-listed partner countries. Podoconiosis is a progressive, debilitating form of leg swelling experienced by barefoot farmers, mycetoma a slow-growing, destructive infection of the skin and underlying tissues, and scabies an extremely itchy infectious condition caused by skin-burrowing mites. These conditions are huge public health problems in the three countries in which the 5S Foundation will work: Ethiopia, Sudan and Rwanda.

Social science research around NTDs is essential if key biomedical advances are to be successfully translated into elimination and control programmes, and our research will transform the health and wellbeing of people affected by these conditions by identifying interventions informed by social science perspectives at the level of the patient, the community and national and international policy. 

The aims of the programme are: 

1. To examine the cultural logics and social and economic contexts of podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies;
2. To understand the dynamics and dimensions of stigma;
3. To investigate how all three diseases have been conceptualised at national and international policy levels;
4. To evaluate existing interventions using social science perspectives;
5. To refine the conceptual framework developed to guide the Foundation’s research;
6. To develop a comprehensive intervention strategy for each disease;
7. To support endemic-country training posts (PhD and postdoctoral) in a manner that will leave enduring capacity for social science research;
8. To facilitate South-South and North-South sharing of best practice in research and advocacy applicable to a wide range of stigmatising conditions in low-resource settings.

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Profesor Getnet Tadele from 5S partner OSSREA explains: "Stigma has been one of the major challenges in controlling NTDs in Ethiopia. The worst part of having such conditions is that once people are identified with such diseases, it becomes their master status, the most salient public marker of affected people.  This conceals the true self of affected individuals and the skill they possess. The pain and physical abnormality of such conditions might be managed or improved, but the associated stigma doesn’t wither away, in fact it will continue to cast a long shadow on affected people's identity. Unfortunately, attempts to tackle stigma and its effect has not been fully successful and the 5S foundation is very timely and compelling project and will contribute to enhancing and changing behaviours, practices and policies that address stigmatisation."

Watch our video with Prof Gail Davey below to find out more about the 5S Foundation.