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RESHAPE’s research aim
Improving business continuity for health services following extreme weather events (EWEs). We will generate context-specific knowledge of how High Resilience Healthcare Delivery (HRHD) can be developed and sustained in lower and middle income countries in the context of EWEs.
That knowledge will inform the co-creation of interventions designed to strengthen health care services and resilience in our study sites. We will evaluate effectiveness of these programmes to see if they are sustainable and likely to improve health outcomes during and after EWEs.
Research Design and Outputs
UK university partners are working with academic and community partners in Malawi, Tanzania, Vietnam and Uganda. Our approach is multi-stage, multi-method and co-created. We aim to develop tailored solutions for improving business continuity for health services following EWEs. This project brings together expertise in business continuity management (BCM), resilience engineering and participatory processes including community, patient and carer involvement, along with expertise in public health and health service management.
RESHAPE is a mixed-methods study with five main objectives:
Improving our knowledge of the impact that EWEs have on healthcare systems globally and what factors affect those systems’ resilience in the face of such events (Work package 1).
Describing the healthcare systems in the case study areas, their served communities and how both have been affected by and responded to EWEs. This will provide a foundation for locally relevant insights into processes and adaptations, and their influence on health outcomes (WP2).
Developing with local partners, through business continuity planning, resilience engineering and participatory research methods, protocols for EWE preparedness, response and recovery, and guidance on good practices, knowledge exchange, and interventions development. This is a proposed process to create resilient healthcare delivery (WP 3).
Applying and evaluating the interventions, targeting specific levels of healthcare systems. We plan to embed resources and processes that can sustain and enhance broader healthcare system resilience, with feedback into global knowledge frameworks.
Strengthening Research Capacity and research leadership in Southern partners and support southern-southern knowledge exchange.
Objectives 1-4 relate directly to work packages 1-4. Objective 3 will be embedded in case study sites as an iterative process. We want to enable resilience beyond the project period through ongoing adaptation and refinement over time. By strengthening research leadership in our southern partners and encouraging south-south knowledge sharing, Objective 5 ensures that our research will continue to have beneficial impact well beyond the life of the project.
Outputs
Our outputs include conference presentations and scientific articles. We will put links to pdf versions of our outputs as they get created here. Please check back here soon!
Acknowledgements
We appreciate very much the support of many community and health care system partners in Vietnam, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi.
People
Principal Investigators:
Professors Paul Hunter (UEA UK) & Evanson Sambala (Kamuzu University of Health Sciences Malawi)
Additional Colleagues
De Montfort University, UK: Brahim Herbane
Hanoi University of Public Health, Vietnam: Tuyet Tran Thi Hanh, Minh Hoang Van
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi : Adamson Muula, John Phuka
Leeds University, UK: James Bartram, Nikolaos Nikitas, Paul Hutchings
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK: Gloria Chan, Hilary Whitworth
Mbarara University Science and Technology, Uganda: Edgar Mulogo, Joseph Ngonzi
National Institute for Medical Research, Mwanza Intervention Trials Unit, Tanzania: Severin Kabakama, Yovitha Sedekia, Deborah Watson-Jones, Jiwanti Kabuka
UEA, UK : Jo-Anne Geere, Roger Few, Julii Brainard, Iain Lake, Mike van der Es
Community Advisors
Dennis Lukaaya (Uganda), Daniel Mapemba (Malawi), Kondwani Kuchelekana (Malawi), Lucyphine Kilanga (Tanzania).
Scientific Advisors
Kristie Ebi (University of Washington, USA); Charles Shey Wiysonge (World Health Organization).
Please contact Dr. Julii Brainard if you have any questions or comments about the RESHAPE study.
Funding
National Institute for Health Research - Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation Call 5. RESHAPE is funded to run 2024-2027. (NIHR204820).
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