News and events - 2019

News and events 2019

A woman on an exercise bike with and instructor for a programme promoting positive living for people with HIV

December 2019

Exercise programme promotes positive living for people with HIV

A new exercise programme is helping to address the physical, mental and social health related challenges faced by people living with HIV in Sussex. The Positive Living Programme at Sussex Beacon provides people with HIV the opportunity to participate in a physiotherapy supervised group based on individualised exercises, in a supportive and friendly environment. After being referred to the programme, patients are offered an assessment to help determine the exercises they can do in the class and establish some practical goals. The classes, which involve exercises using an exercise bike, weights, resistance bands and floor mats, run every Wednesday for 1.5 hours at the Sussex Beacon.

more on the positive living HIV exercise programme >

Funding booster for tuberculosis vaccine research at BSMS

Leticia Wildner and Dr Simon Waddell from the Department of Global Health and Infection have been awarded funding from the Medical Research Council VALIDATE GCRF Network with colleagues from Public Health England and the University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The one-year project will develop innovative tools to measure mycobacterial antigen expression in tissue, working towards a new vaccination against tuberculosis. The leading cause of death by an infectious disease worldwide, tuberculosis was responsible for 1.3 million deaths in 2018 and 10 million new cases. Further details of the VALIDATE Network can be found on their website below.

more about the funding booster for TB Vaccine research >

Series of talks on NTDs published

A series of talks on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by a range of experts have been pulled together by Emeritus Professor David Molyneux and published by The Biomedical and Life Sciences Collection (TBLSC). Gail Davey, Professor of Global Health Epidemiology at BSMS, gave one of the talks titled 'Introduction to podoconiosis'. These talks are available for free (unlike other collections), which is something Gail was keen to do so that they could be accessed by those that most need them. Listen to Gail's talk by clicking on the link below.

Listen to the Negelcted Tropical Diseases talks here >

Papreen publishes second paper on antimicrobial resistance

Dr Papreen Nahar, Senior Research Fellow (Medical Anthropology and Global Health), is the co-author on a new paper published by PLOS ONE. 'Pathways to antibiotics in Bangladesh: A qualitative study investigating how and when households access medicine including antibiotics for humans or animals when they are ill', was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and is the second paper Papreen and colleagues have published.

Read the Antimicrobial resistance paper here >

Jo Middleton gives talk in Washington DC

Jo Middleton, Research Fellow from the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Neglected Tropical Diseases and the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at BSMS, gave a talk in December 2019 in Washington DC, USA, at the annual meeting of the International Alliance for the Control of Scabies. Jo spoke about the work on scabies in care homes, Ethiopia, refugee camps across Europe and Papua New Guinea.

New paper on podo published

Dr Kebede Deribe, Research Fellow at BSMS, is the lead author on a new paper, 'Mapping the global distribution of podoconiosis: Applying an evidence consensus approach', published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. Professors Gail Davey and Mel Newport are also co-authors on the paper.

Read the Podo distribution mapping paper here >

BSMS projects presented in Basel

BSMS had a good presence at the European AIDS Conference in Basel, Switzerland in November. Dr Jaime Vera, Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in HIV Medicine, was one of the speakers with an oral presentation on the project 'A multicentred randomised controlled open study of the utility and acceptability of a Medicines Optimisation Review (MOR) toolkit compared to standard pharmaceutical care in HIV outpatients' and a poster presentation titled 'Facilitating primary care non-antiretroviral drug prescribing in people living with HIV: The Think ARV project'. Jaime also chaired a special session at the meeting on ageing with HIV.

A group of children walking and running towards the camera

November 2019

Climate change already damaging health of world’s children, according to Lancet report

A new report, co-authored by experts at the University of Sussex and Brighton and Sussex Medical School, warns about the health impact of climate change on the world’s children. Dr Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Lecturer in Global Health, and Professor of Climate Science & Society Dominic Kniveton were contributing authors of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate change reports. The 2019 report sets out the lifelong health consequences of rising temperatures for a child born today should the world follow a business-as-usual pathway.

Read how climate change is damaging children's Health today >

Kebede organises USA events

Dr Kebede Deribe, Research Fellow in Global Health and Infection, organised a breakout session at the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD) meeting from 18-19 November at National Harbor in Maryland, USA. The title of the breakout session was 'Innovative, Integrated and Standardized Approaches in Mapping IDM Diseases'. Kebede also organised a symposium at the 68th Annual Meeting of the American of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from 20-24 November at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, also in National Harbor, Maryland. The title of the symposium was 'Precision Mapping of Innovative and Intensified Disease Management'.

BSMS colleagues in Edinburgh

BSMS was well represented at the Federation of Infection Societies annual conference in Edinburgh last week. Student Pelumi Popoola presented her Year 4 individual research project (IRP) on blood culture processes at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust as a poster. Dr Bethany Davies, Senior Lecturer in Infection, chaired a session on clinical cases and launched a British Infection Association (BIA) initiative called 'LearnInfection', which is an educational resource for infection trainees. Martin Llewelyn, Professor of Infectious Diseases, in his role as BIA president, chaired the JD Williams plenary lecture at the conference too.

October 2019

Article published on antimicrobial drugs that target bacteria

Dr Simon Waddell, Reader in Microbial Pathogenesis in Global Health and Infection, published an article in the journal Molecular Microbiology last week identifying a link between protein kinase function and transcriptional regulation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The study, with colleagues at the University of Leicester and the University of Montpellier, sheds light on how bacteria switch between replicating and non-replicating states. The research will drive discovery of new antimicrobial drugs that target bacteria that are able to persist in the body months after the start of treatment, such as tuberculosis. The publication 'Protein kinase B controls Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth via phosphorylation of the transcriptional regulator Lsr2 at threonine 112' is available to read online on Molecular Microbiology and PubMed.

The Power of Song: Why your doctor should be prescribing choir practice

GPs should prescribe participation in communal singing activities to patients to raise self-esteem and overcome loneliness, a tuneful event at the University of Sussex was told this month. Dr Sarah Andersen, a practicing GP and former masters' student in Global Health between 2015-17 at BSMS, told the Singing for Wellbeing event held at the University of Sussex that academic studies indicated significant benefits if more doctors used community choirs as part of their social prescribing.

September 2019

NIHR Global Health Research Unit holds its second annual meeting

With the river Mersey as a backdrop, students, collaborators, institutional partners and strategic advisory board members from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, UK and USA attended the second NIHR Global Health Research Unit on NTDs at BSMS meeting in, you guessed it, Liverpool (Ferry Cross the Mersey).

The Unit, launched in 2017, is formed of seven work packages which carry out research into three neglected tropical diseases: podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies. At the meeting, PhD students based at our partner institutions in Ethiopia and Sudan, representing each work package had an opportunity to update the group on their progress and results over the past year. The afternoon sessions included group discussions on the impact of the Unit’s work using Theory of Change and an interactive ‘Future café’ activity which aimed to solicit feedback on the direction the Unit should take over the next five years.

A highlight came toward the end of the day when three expert advisors, Prof Yemane Berhane (Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and Director of Addis Continental Institute of Public Health), Prof Alan Fenwick OBE (Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial College), and Nebiyu Negussu (NTDs Team Leader at the Federal Ministry of Health in Ethiopia and Deputy Director for DPCD), shared their views in a panel discussion on the future of the Unit, and the possible future direction of the Brighton and Sussex Centre for Global Health more broadly.

CDT-Africa have produced a short report on the meeting on their website >

Conference season up North: highlights from ECTMIH and NNN 2019

It’s not just the politicians who were busy at their conferences this month! The Unit meeting was followed by two associated conferences taking place in the same venue: the 11th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health and the 10th NTDs NGO Network (NNN) conference. These gave Unit meeting participants an opportunity to present posters, network and give presentations.

Prof Melanie Newport launched the 10th anniversary edition of the journal International Health, which she helped to establish in 2009 alongside Professor David Molyneux from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Prof Gail Davey handed over her role as chair of the NNN, and will now be serving another year on the Steering Committee as Past-Chair. Dr Arianne Shahvisi, Senior Lecturer in Ethics at BSMS, gave a plenary talk on the ‘Social and ethical approaches to NTDs: the case for podoconiosis’ at the NNN opening plenary. They were both interviewed by a journalist from the Spanish newspaper El Pais, and you can find the full article about social and ethical approaches podoconiosis here.

Dr Sahar Bakhiet, one of the NIHR Unit’s collaborators from the Mycetoma Research Centre in Sudan, was interviewed by The Telegraph and you can read Dr Sahar Bakhiet's interview with the Telegraph here.

Finally, the Unit team also arranged to have a podoconiosis photo exhibition in the main lobby area which attracted a lot of attention from conference participants. The photos are taken from a Picturing Health article published in The Lancet earlier this month.

Disabling foot disease highlighted in The Lancet

The Lancet is featuring a photostory on a neglected tropical disease (NTD) that brings pain and disability to millions of people in some of the world’s poorest countries. 'Picturing health: podoconiosis—stepping out of neglect’ features photographs of this disabling foot and leg condition by Dr Alex Kumar, a medical doctor and international photojournalist. Dr Kumar visited a remote health centre in Mirab Gojjam, a rural area in northern Ethiopia last year with a team from BSMS.

Read the Podoconiosis article in the Lancet >

A group photograph from a Bangladesh community theatre

August 2019

Partnership to ensure the sustainability of a public health palliative care project in Bangladesh through community theatre

Dr Shahaduz Zaman, Reader in Global Health Social Science, is leading an interdisciplinary collaborative partnership project to ensure the sustainability of a public health palliative care project in Bangladesh through community theatre.

Although the inception meeting took place in Brighton in early 2018, it is in Dhaka that the research team comprising a range of disciplines and backgrounds (medical, social sciences, media, anthropology, public health, drama) devised a method to engage and sustain knowledge of palliative care in this particular resource poor setting.

The location of the project is an overcrowded, resource poor, tin-roof single-room houses informal settlement in Dhaka, Bangladesh with over 200,000 inhabitants. And the process, as much as the result, of this art intervention for health is skilfully captured in this short film, produced by University of Liberal Arts.

A screening of the film and a discussion session on raising awareness on palliative care through community theatre in Bangladesh was held in University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh with Dr Shahaduz Zaman in April, and we hope to do a screening here at BSMS later in 2019.

This partnership has provided a unique opportunity to the researchers and practitioners of the arts and humanities, medicine and development in both the UK and Bangladesh to interact, generate new insight and share knowledge between institutions and across sectoral boundaries.

The partners of the project from Bangladesh include BRAC (NGO), BRAC University, BSMMU Medical University and University of Liberal Arts. The partners from UK include University of Sussex, University of Glasgow and University of York. This partnership project was funded jointly by Art and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Medical Research Council (MRC), UK.

A group of BSMS staff represented at the House of Commons

July 2019

BSMS represented at the House of Commons

Dr Chi Eziefula, Senior Lecturer in Infectious Diseases, and Bella Norris, Year 4 student at BSMS, attended the House of Commons on Tuesday 16 July for an all-party parliamentary group meeting on infant feeding. The pair were joined by Dr Chris van Tulleken, scientist and TV presenter for Operation Ouch on the BBC. Commenting on the meeting, Chi said: "This was an excellent meeting which explored the information and misinformation around breastfeeding and formula feeding." The meeting also considered why the UK has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world and and NHS conflicts of interest. Bella Norris is currently doing her individual research project (IRP) with Chi on breastfeeding.

Staff welcome visiting doctor from Zambia

BSMS hosted an exchange visit by Dr Bornwell Sikateyo from the University of Zambia Medical School on Thursday 11 July. This visit was part of the University of Sussex's Research Development Fund 'Mother driven best practice implementation' project and was aimed at capacity building for setting up collaborative research studies in maternal and child health. Dr Sikateyo was hosted by Dr Heike Rabe, Reader in Paediatrics, and Melanie Newport, Professor of Infectious Diseases and Global Health at BSMS. Dr Sikateyo also met with several members of the clinical paediatric academic team to discuss the planned collaborative studies in maternal and child health. The exchange visit has strengthened the partnership between the two medical schools as well as allowing the opportunity to learn from one another. Look out for further collaboration between the two schools in the future!

Two emerging leaders elected

Dr Bethany Davies, Senior Lecturer in Infection, and Dr Jasmin Islam, Academic Clinical Fellow from the Global Health and Infection team at BSMS, have both been elected as emerging leaders for the International Society of Infectious Diseases (ISID) in recognition of their past contributions to the field of international infectious diseases and in anticipation of their future impact on the discipline. This is a four-year term, which offers the opportunity to become involved in a major international organisation, work closely with influential experts in their field and gain invaluable experience at a senior level with programme development and management. Only 10 emerging leaders are elected by ISID every two years, so to have two appointments from BSMS at the same time is rare and demonstrates the significant impact of the research in global health and infection at the medical school.

Washing feet with Podo symptoms in a blue bowl

June 2019

Podcast series showcases podo research

Gail Davey, Professor of Global Health Epidemiology at BSMS, and Melanie Newport, Professor of Infectious Diseases and Global Health at BSMS, have discussed their efforts to eliminate podoconiosis (podo), the little known but devastating neglected tropical disease, in a new podcast series. In the second episode of the Impacted podcast, which spotlights the work of researchers based at the University of Sussex, Professors Davey and Newport discussed their global health research with hosts Suzanne Fisher-Murray and Will Hood.

Listen to the Podo Podcast here >

Climate change on the agenda

The link between anthropogenic climate change and the consequences for human health has been making headlines in 2019, so it was rather fitting to be the subject of the seventh Global Health and Infection departmental meeting that took place at Stanmer House in June. More than 40 participants, including academics, clinicians, PhD students and professional services staff, got together to hear presentations from Prof Dominic Kniveton, from the School of Geography, on 'The sensitivity of global health to climate variability and change', as well as Dr Collins Iwuji and Dr Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson from BSMS who spoke on 'Drought, Poverty and HIV Drug Resistance: threat to resilience in a vulnerable rural setting' and 'Climate change and people-centred social science: How do we capture people's behaviour, emotions and understandings of risk' respectively. The talks were followed by a rich discussion on methodology, use of new technologies to measure behaviour change and how research can be most effective to influence this emerging field.

May 2019

Exploring collaboration with Kew Gardens and Sussex Drug Discovery Centre

In May 2019 the Global Health and Infection team hosted CDT Africa Co-Directors, Dr Abebaw Fekadu and Prof Eyasu Makonnen, and Postdoc Dr Belete Legesse as part of a broadening collaborations initiative for the NIHR Unit on neglected tropical diseases at BSMS. On Wednesday 22 May, the team ventured into Kew Gardens to meet with Prof Monique Simmonds, Deputy Director of Science at Kew, to explore areas of overlap in their conservation work as part of the unit's work package on endemic plant extracts for limb care. They also met with Dr Ruth Murrell-Lagnado from the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre and had a tour of the biology and chemistry labs with a view to developing a more formal two-way training relationship over the coming years. You can watch an interview about Dr Legesse's work as part of the NIHR Unit here >

Climate change, gender and wellbeing event

Dr Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Lecturer in Global Health, appeared on a panel to discuss climate change, gender and wellbeing at Parliament on Wednesday 22 May. The all-female panel also included academics from Oxford University and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Commenting on the event, Sonja said: "It highlighted how The Department for International Development and UK Aid have done work scratching on the surface of the issues around female vulnerability to climate change including non-evacuation behaviour but that we need more profound research looking into the complexity. I think our work came across as being one step ahead of others in terms of already having strong people-centered findings to present here." The event also gave Sonja the opportunity to network with the other panelists, which could lead to future projects and collaborations around climate change.

Project aims to tackle lymphedema in Ethiopia

Dr Maya Semrau, Research Fellow in Implementation Research in the Global Health and Infection Department at BSMS, has been awarded a significant grant to further study stigma as a barrier to treatment for people with lymphoedema. The full title of the project is ‘Improving access to integrated Morbidity management and disability PREvention Services through Stigma reduction for people with lower limb lymphoedema in Ethiopia' (IMPRESS). Commenting on the grant, Dr Semrau, who is the Principal Investigator, says: "Systematic review evidence has shown that stigma is widespread among people with a range of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), including those with lower limb lymphoedema caused by lymphatic filariasis (LF), leprosy and podoconiosis. As well as significantly increasing the burden of disease for these conditions, stigma acts as a major barrier to accessing morbidity management and disability prevention (MMDP) services." The IMPRESS project will focus on how best to incorporate stigma reduction interventions within an integrated MMDP programme for people with LF, leprosy and podoconiosis in Ethiopia. The research will be carried out in Awi zone in the Amhara region in Northern Ethiopia. The project is embedded within the NIHR-funded EnDPoINT implementation research programme (Work Package 1 of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit for NTDs at BSMS), which aims to integrate and scale up a holistic MMDP care package, including physical and psychosocial care, into government-run health services for people with LF, leprosy and podoconiosis in Ethiopia. However, the important element of stigma reduction to facilitate access to, and create demand for, MMDP services lies beyond the scope of EnDPoINT, providing a unique opportunity for the IMPRESS project. The project officially began on 31 January 2019 and will run until 30 January 2021. In addition to BSMS, other organisations involved include CDT-Africa, Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health.

Kebede presents research at Wellcome Trust

Dr Kebede Deribe, Research Fellow in the Global Health and Infection department at BSMS, was invited to speak at the Wellcome Trust this week. The meeting, titled 'International Early Career Fellows', was held on Tuesday 14 May at the Gibbs building in London. The title of Kebede's presentation was 'Podoconiosis: From Neglect to Public Health Priority'. Branwen Hennig, Senior Portfolio Lead in Population Health at the Wellcome Trust, said: "Super overview of his career and research by Dr Kebede Deribe on podoconiosis. An inspiration to all our international early career fellows."

April 2019

Public health meets community theatre

Dr Shahaduz Zaman, Senior Lecturer in the Global Health and Infection Department at BSMS, organised a workshop last week with collaborators from Bangladesh and the UK. This session, titled 'Partnership to ensure the sustainability of a public health palliative care project in Bangladesh through community theatre: A follow-on project', was held on 28-29 March at the Jury's Inn on Brighton seafront. The project is an interdisciplinary collaborative partnership to ensure the sustainability of a public health palliative care project in an urban poor setting in Bangladesh through community theatre, which started in February 2018. The workshop provided a unique opportunity to the researchers and practitioners of the arts and humanities, medicine and development in both the UK and Bangladesh to interact, generate new insights and share knowledge between institutions and across sectoral boundaries. The partners of the project include BRAC University, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and University of Liberal Arts (Bangladesh) and the University of Sussex, University of Glasgow and University of York in the UK, and is funded jointly by the Art and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Medical Research Council. Recently the project received a grant from AHRC for a follow-on project to take this initiative to peri-urban and rural settings in Bangladesh. Joining Dr Shahaduz at the workshop were Professors Melanie Newport and Gail Davey, who gave the welcome speech. Bangladeshi and UK participants in the workshop shared their experience of the current project, developed a strategy for art intervention for health in a resource poor setting and planned for the follow-on project.

Paper on migrant women's health published

Dr Arianne Shahvisi, Lecturer in Ethics and Medical Humanities at BSMS, has published a paper in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) with Dr Fionnuala Finnerty from Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust about migrant women's access to pregnancy care. The paper, titled 'Why it is unethical to charge migrant women for pregnancy care in the National Health Service', is available online here. The pair have also written a short post on the BMJ's Medical Ethics blog to accompany it.

Read the paper on Migrant Woman's Health >

A group of people sitting together on a wall in Rwanda

March 2019

Precision maps reveal widespread distribution of podoconiosis in Rwanda

The painful and stigmatising neglected tropical disease podoconiosis is widespread across Rwanda, according to the first mapping of the disease. All 30 districts have been found to be endemic for non-filarial elephantiasis, also known as podoconiosis, which affects the feet and lower limbs. The study, which mapped the entire country in 1x1 square kilometres, was published today in the journalLancet Global Health. Mapping podoconiosis at precise local levels provides health providers, donors, programme planners and policymakers with insights into where to direct resources for effective intervention for the control of this disabling disease. Lead author Dr Kebede Deribe, Research Fellow at BSMS, said: "Our data provides information on where the disease is prevalent and quantifies the number of cases. Having found podoconiosis across all districts in Rwanda, we need to now focus on ensuring that those suffering from it have access to treatment and preventing the occurrence of new disease."

more about the distribution of podo in Rwanda >

Tackling antimicrobial resistance

A new campaign by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is shining a light on the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the research response required. Martin Llewelyn, Professor in Infectious Diseases at BSMS, is AMR lead for the Clinical Research Network Infection Speciality and has contributed a short video to the campaign filmed in the Medical Research Building and an editorial for Research Fortnight called 'Overcoming Resistance', which was published in March.

more on tackling Antimicrobial Resistance >

Largest ever HIV prevention study delivers sobering message

The largest ever study on HIV prevention was presented last week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Washington, USA. Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are often thought of as the answer for ending the HIV epidemic, but the study proved this is not necessarily the case. Dr Collins Iwuji, Senior Lecturer in Sexual Health and HIV Medicine at BSMS, said: "ARVs on their own are not the magic bullet," in an article published by Science Magazine. Dr Iwuji had previously helped run one of the earlier studies, a South African treatment as prevention trial.

Teddy Gebresilase standing in front of his research poster

February 2019

Global Health duo present posters

Dr Diana Alcantara, Research Fellow in Immunology, and Teddy Gebresilase, PhD student, presented posters at a Wellcome conference last week. The conference, titled 'Immunogenomics of Disease: Accelerating to Patient Benefit,' took place at the Wellcome Genome Campus Conference Centre in Cambridge.

Prof Gail Davey standing with a NTD toolkit

January 2019

New NTD toolkit launched at event

Gail Davey, Professor of Global Health Epidemiology, attended the ‘Beyond 2020’ event in London on Thursday 31 January. The event marked seven years since the London Declaration, a document which was signed in 2012 to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). As Chair of the NTD NGO Network, Prof Davey launched a new toolkit with Dr Mwele Malecela, World Health Organisation of NTDs.

Researchers attend conference despite -25°C temperatures

Research Fellows Leticia Wildner and Daire Cantillon, and PhD student Adam Roberts presented their work at the Keystone conference on 'Tuberculosis: Mechanisms, Pathogenesis and Treatment' in Banff, in Canada from 17-22 January. These early career researchers (ECR), part of Dr Simon Waddell’s research team, braved temperatures of -25°C at a hotel straight from The Shining to impress attendees about their work on tuberculosis. All three researchers received a contribution towards the trip from ECR and PhD conference funds.

Brighton Lusaka Health Link holds open meeting

The Brighton Lusaka Health Link held an open meeting in January, which was attended by a range of people from BSMS, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and many friends of the Link. The Link fosters the reciprocal transfer of knowledge and skills between health care workers in Brighton and Lusaka and there were presentations updating the activities of various projects including the Pharmacy Link, which has recently submitted a major proposal to fund a programme of work around antibiotic stewardship in Lusaka's main teaching hospital, and a new project being developed by Dr Heike Rabe, Reader in Paediatrics at BSMS, investigating the benefits of delayed umbilical cord clamping in Zambian newborns. The launch was well-attended and attendees would like to thank the Lawson Unit for providing Lusaka-Linked cupcakes!