TIPH Global projects promote awareness of public health issues, education, and career opportunities worldwide, with a specific emphasis on local communities. The second cohort of TIPH Global awards grants to 12 academic public health institutions from 10 countries. The proposed projects are diverse, timely, and will use a range of innovative and engaging techniques to educate, train, and empower their communities. We look forward to the year ahead and following their progress.
Andalusian School of Public Health (EASP), University of Granada (UGR)
Bridging a gap for action on antimicrobial resistance: Raising awareness and educating on antimicrobial resistance in a local health care setting
Student Ambassador: José Antonio Marín Rodríguez
The “Proyecto Multirresistencias” initiative led by master students at the Andalusian School of Public Health aims to tackle the global threat of growing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through building an educational intervention. To achieve this purpose, an innovative Open Virtual Platform will be created targeting more than 200 first-year medical residents in the two main hospitals of Granada, Spain, as well as the patients assisting those centers. The project will provide a unique educational experience to key actors at a local level and empower the health service users via effective communication strategies concerning AMR.
Midterm Update
In its initial months, the “Proyecto Multirresistencias” has made commendable progress in achieving the proposed goals of creating a virtual platform for addressing antimicrobial resistance. A significant stride has been our comprehensive field study where the team conducted a multi-methods research combining interviews and surveys with medical residents and health-care users and providing valuable data for the platform development. Additionally, contributions from key actors in health areas from various countries and institutions have enriched the project, highlighting areas for targeted intervention and public education. Our social media campaigns impact over 1000 individuals with educative content. Dissemination efforts also included initiatives like the “Clean Hands Workshop” during the European Researchers’ Night and the “Deans and Directors’ Retreat 2023” in Dublin. Developing a dedicated web platform is underway to expand our educational outreach. This strategic combination of research, community engagement, and digital presence underscores our commitment to combating antimicrobial resistance and enhancing public health awareness.
Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Escuela de Salud Pública de México, Dirección de Investigación en Enfermedades Cardiovasculares Diabetes Mellitus y Cáncer
Shortening diagnosis and treatment intervals for breast cancer patients: Strategy, put yourself in my shoes.
Student Ambassador: Marisol Cabrera López
Women in low-resource settings continue to face significant obstacles to receiving timely, effective, and high-quality breast cancer care. Patient navigation is a strategy that has been widely used to shorten care times successfully in the United States since 1990. The aim of this study is to map the steps from when a woman arrives at the Siglo XXI Oncology Hospital with a possible breast cancer diagnosis until she receives the histopathological diagnosis and starts treatment according to the clinical stage and to propose and implement a patient navigation strategy to facilitate patient flow within optimally defined timelines.
Midterm Update
Provider delay is a delay within the health care system in obtaining appointments, scheduling diagnostic tests, receiving a definitive diagnosis, and initiating and completing treatment. This is a descriptive-analytical study with a component of navigators of patients diagnosed with breast cancer to facilitate their flow, reduce diagnostic confirmation times, as well as initiation and adherence to treatment upon admission to the Oncology Hospital Siglo XXI. The patient navigators will follow the participants during their stay in the hospital, always in coordination with the attending physician. The time from the delivery of the result of the screening mammography (without symptoms) or the first suspicious symptoms of breast cancer to the definitive histopathological diagnosis and from the definitive histopathological diagnosis to the start of treatment will be measured. Treatment adherence will also be measured.
Medical University of Gdansk, Poland – Faculty of Health Sciences – Department of Public Health and Social Medicine
Everyday life in the face of war – as a current public health hazard
Student Ambassador: Paulina Dera
Our main goal is to raise the awareness about widely understood migration problem in the context of public health and enhance the visibility and understanding of this issue in Poland and other countries. The expected outcomes will be as follows: (1) Increased awareness about migration problems and hardships of everyday life of immigrants among society. (2) Better understanding of immigrants and their points of view. (3) Expanding cooperation in its Polish, European and global dimension, in the area of raising still-important public health migration issue, also spreading the message about it and sharing stories and good practices.
Midterm Update
Activities related to our project allow us to reach many different audiences. Due to our activity on social media, local initiatives, or in schools/universities, our project tries to be interdisciplinary, just like “public health”. Thanks to our actions, we managed to reach several communities and we hope to also increased awareness, especially about mental health in the context of war. We plan to expand our activities by getting involved in other projects implemented at our university – including: “Popularization of vaccinations among Ukrainians”. We hope that our topic, after all, will show at least a little about the real problems related to everyday life in the face of war.
Makerere University School of Public Health
Raising awareness and building resilience to floods and landslides in the Elgon region in Uganda
Student Ambassador: Filimin Niyongabo
The project seeks to raise awareness among student communities on the public health issues related to climate change and how to respond during flash floods and landslides in Mbale district. We will conduct a stakeholder engagement workshop and health education events targeting learners and students in five primary and five secondary schools in Mbale city. We will also engage students in innovation competitions, tree planting in schools and communities, social media campaigns, and the development and distribution of Information, Education, and Communication materials. Among university students, we will hold training workshops on climate change. All activities will be appropriately evaluated.
Midterm Update
The project involves stakeholder engagements with local authorities and training of pupils and students at primary schools in Mbale district. The pupils are also engaged in tree planting and an essay writing competition to share their views and reflections about climate change. School teachers and students at higher level of education at Mbale School of Hygiene and Makerere University also receive additional information about climate change through seminars. Through these activities, awareness on climate change and capacity of students is enhanced. These efforts should activate students and youths to implement activities to ensure climate change resilience and broader awareness raising in communities. A climate-aware citizenry will go a long way in advocating for and implementing actions to combat climate change.
Monash University, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Public health careers
Student Ambassador: Shivangi Shah
Many public health students experience career uncertainty. This seems to be driven, in part, by a lack of awareness about the career options available to them. The public health careers project aims to address this through the development of a set of evidence-based public health career personas – designed to represent the most common career pathways. These will be brought to life by a public health careers podcast, where we take a deep dive into public health careers through a series of interviews with public health professionals.
Midterm Update
We are in the process of developing two major resources: evidence-based public health career personas and our public health careers podcast. These will both primarily target undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in public health coursework and those considering a career in public health. Secondary audiences will be those enthusiastic about and/or working within the public health field such as educators and professionals. We’ve scheduled our first podcast guests and are excited to release the resources and podcast to you in 2024.
SD Gupta School of Public Health, IIHMR University
EN-SURE HEALTH
Student Ambassador: Dr. Yeshwanth Sonnathi
The ongoing pandemic has demonstrated that there is a dire need to strengthen capacity, competencies, and knowledge in some of the areas of public health such as politics of public health, community engagement in building trust, Science and arts of implementing public health program and promoting implementation research. IIHMR are proposing to produce Podcast by the name of EN-SURE HEALTH to discuss thought provoking health topics, innovative and inspiring research that contributes toward achieving universal health coverage from LMIC. The goal is to bring the latest evidence, research and experience in public health through experts’ call. Evidence and experts can help general people and public health Professionals and students understand the latest research, podcast will be available on the IIHMR website.
Midterm Update
EN-SURE HEALTH Podcast is produced by SD Gupta School of Public Health, IIHMR University, Jaipur, India. In light of the ongoing pandemic, it has become abundantly clear that strengthening our capacity, competency and knowledge in the area of public health is paramount; the EN-SURE HEALTH podcast served as a platform for thought-proving discussion on health topics such as Public Health 3.0, Insights and innovations in implementation research, digital health dialogues and also featuring innovative and inspiring research that contribute in achieving universal health coverage in LMIC. We have produced four podcasts on varying themes featuring experts Dr. S.D.Gupta, Former President, South East Asia Public Health Education Institutions Network (SEAPHEIN), Dr. N.K.Arora, Executive Director, NTAGI Member Executive Director, Inclen, India, Dr Hisham Moosan, Scientist, Indian Council of Medical Research, Dr. Vimal Sharma, Global Mental Health Research, the University of Chester, which is available on Spotify. Promotional material about the podcast is widely circulated on social media sites like Linkedin, Instagram, and Twitter having more than 4000 impressions.
The University of Western Australia (UWA), School of Population and Global Health (SPGH)
Increasing awareness of public health issues in low- and middle-income countries
Student Ambassador: Neave Isabella Garland
This project will complement existing public health fieldtrips to Nepal and Fiji at UWA’s SPGH. The TIPH components of the fieldtrips will involve students working with our local collaborators to identify public health issues, consider their determinants and develop potential intervention strategies. Specifically, students will undertake a comprehensive literature search, observational audits and interviews to identify public health issues in villages in Nepal and Fiji, beyond those already addressed by our collaborators. They will then create TIPH videos and photo-essays to describe these health issues and their determinants and develop health promotion intervention materials to address these health issues.
Midterm Update
During our fieldtrip to Nepal we worked with public health students from LA GRANDEE International College, and our colleagues at Kanchan Nepal, to evaluate public health initiatives relating to water, sanitation and hygiene in rural villages around Pokhara. We also undertook a needs assessment of emergency rooms in secondary schools in Pokhara. The TIPH component allowed us to extend our fieldtrip and visit additional villages, plus undertake an additional project (the needs assessment).
As well as completing household surveys and student surveys, our students created TIPH videos, showcasing aspects of public health in Pokhara centre and rural villages. These videos have been circulated via social media as detailed elsewhere. The reports prepared based on the evaluation of public health initiatives, and the needs assessment, will be provided to our Nepalese collaborators so they can be used to inform planning and support funding proposals.
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Medicine, Center – School of Public Health and Health Management
Public Health Cinema – PHC
Student Ambassador: Aleksandar Stevanović
The Belgrade School of Public Health and Health Management leads the Public Health Cinema project (PHC). The project organizes open-air movie screenings followed by expert panel discussions to address youth health concerns. These events also serve as an avenue for sharing health promotion materials and connecting young people with public health institutions and their resources. Our goal is to provide high-quality health information on common youth health topics using a less formal approach that engages with the community. Thoughtfully selected movies focus on mental health, sexual and reproductive health, and healthy lifestyles.
Midterm Update
The project included movie screenings and expert panel discussions to address youth health concerns, with a special focus on mental health and wellbeing. These events served as an avenue for health promotion activities and connecting young people with public health institutions and their resources. The project aims to provide high-quality health information on common youth health topics using a less formal approach that directly engages young people and fosters a friendly and supportive environment.
University College Dublin, School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science
Towards harmonising education in Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology in master-level public health programmes in Ireland: Value of an ECDC Self-Assessment Tool
Student Ambassador: Karl F. Conyard
This project addresses education in applied infectious disease epidemiology (AIDE) in masters-level public health programmes in Ireland. The aim of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in updating core competencies in AIDE (2022) was to harmonise expertise across centres to create more effective preventive and control measures for future outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics of infectious diseases. A self-assessment tool developed by ECDC based on the updated competency framework will be utilised to establish current competencies of master-level public health graduates, establish what could be improved upon and how programmes might share specific expertise for the benefit of all.
Midterm Update
This study profiles education in taught master-level public health programmes using a Self-Assessment Tool (S-AT) for applied infectious disease epidemiology developed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The S-AT examines levels of proficiency in 157 competencies organized into six subject areas developed by an international scientific committee in conjunction with ECDC to capture important developments in diagnostic methods, transmission dynamics, genomic analysis, disease modeling and vaccinology (ECDC, 2022). For this study the S-AT was redesigned with flexibility to capture proficiency levels anonymously for all competencies individually, rather than by domain only. The value of this exercise is in identifying areas in which programmes perform well, and areas for which curricular content may need to be developed or enhanced. It also provides an opportunity to share good practice across schools and to impact favorably on harmonizing education in this important aspect of public health.
University of Kabianga, School of Health Sciences, Department of Public Health
Promoting the uptake of public health course through integration with implementation of the school health program towards disease prevention in Secondary schools in Kenya
Student Ambassador: Indiana Mibei
School health projects are implemented in Kenya under the strict adherence to the school health policy as schools provide an organized structure that is conducive for the provision of health &nutrition services. Gaps on implementation of the school health program will be identified and design any strategies to improve its implementation as we raise awareness on public health course through the teachers,parents and learners. We will establish sustainability measures and further advocacy of public health education through the basic education institutions. Increased recruitment to the public health course should be realized at undergraduate and master’s level as the end goal.
Midterm Update
We have identified an efficient and effective channel to reach many people for introducing health promotion practices through behavior change communication (BCC). Diseases covered are all communicable, non-communicable diseases, and neglected diseases like snake bites. COVID-19 is also prevented in school. The structure, role and implementation of public health education course in higher education will be highlighted better during implementation of this program. It is coincidentally incorporated in the school health policy which will lead to better incorporation of the public health curriculum. (Wasonga, Ojeny et al. 2014). This project has measured the baseline data of the indicators for the school health program implementation as well as Public health course awareness.
University of Wollongong, School of Health and Society
Say No to E-cigarettes-Vape free Campus
Student Ambassador: Emma Lavilles
In 2016, the University of Wollongong, Australia, ran a successful intervention – ‘Smoke Free Campus’, that saw a reduction in smoking on campus. As e-cigarette use is now increasing in Australia it is more relevant to focusing on reducing the incidence of vaping on campus. The primary activities of this program focus on the use of social media messaging, peer advocacy and policy enforcement to deter people from using e-cigarettes on campus. We will measure the reach and effectiveness of program elements via interviews, surveys, network analysis and social media metrics. This program has potential to be adapted by other universities.
Midterm Update
Our baseline survey of 237 students indicates 25.4% have used e-cigarettes in the past month. Of this group 47% intend to quit. They perceive increased physical and mental health risks associated with e-cigarette use. Students believe the e-cigarette industry lie about nicotine content, target children with marketing and cause environmental damage.
Vanderbilt University/Institute for Global Health/Institute for Medicine and Public Health/Master of Public Health
Building Local Capacity in Rural Guatemala and Kenya to Engage Communities, Identify Barriers, and Increase Awareness of Public Health Issues
Student Ambassador: Tevin Mathew
This project aims to build local capacity in and expand awareness of public health in rural Guatemala and Kenya. We will train local community members to conduct focus groups to strengthen public health education regarding malnutrition and cervical cancer. We will collaborate with two Vanderbilt NGO partners (Primeros Pasos and Lwala Community Alliance) to explore a new strategy of engaging men in public health interventions. Barriers surrounding male involvement in these settings are under-researched. We’ll investigate how gender dynamics and socioeconomic factors influence men’s public health decisions, which may affect dietary practices and cervical cancer screening uptake in these countries.
Midterm Update
We have selected two pressing local health challenges: malnutrition (Guatemala) and cervical cancer (Kenya). In this pilot program, we will train local community members to conduct focus groups or in-depth interviews and use findings to enhance public health education. We will collaborate with two long-standing Vanderbilt NGO partners: Primeros Pasos (Guatemala) and Lwala Community Alliance (Kenya). Barriers surrounding male engagement in these settings have not been extensively explored, so we propose exploring a new strategy of engaging men in public health interventions. To further assess these barriers and promote public health awareness among men in rural Guatemala and Kenya, we will explore gender dynamics and socioeconomic factors influencing public health decision-making that may contribute to dietary practices in Guatemala and cervical cancer screening uptake in Kenya.