Trinity-led Consortium in Global Health is launched by the Minister of Health in Khartoum

Posted on: 09 April 2009

EquitAble, a Trinity led consortium in global health, funded by a grant of €2.7million from the European Commission Research Framework Programme 7, has started a four-year interdisciplinary research programme on ‘Enabling universal and equitable access to healthcare for vulnerable people in resource poor settings in Africa’.  The consortium is led by Associate Professor of Psychology,  Professor Mac MacLachlan and managed by Dr Hasheem Mannan of the Centre for Global Health and School of Psychology along with Trinity co- investigator Eilish Mc Auliffe also  of the Centre for Global Health  and  School of Medicine. 

The consortium partners are:
Afhad University for Women (Sudan)
University of Namibia Multidisciplinary Research and Consultancy Centre (Namibia).
University of Malawi Centre for Social Research (Malawi)
Human Sciences Research Council (South Africa)
Secretariat of the African Decade for Persons with Disabilities (South Africa)
The Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (SINTEF) (Norway)
University of Stellenbosch Department of Psychology and the Centre for Rehabilitation Studies (South Africa)

This research programme recognises that health services cannot hope to be equitable unless they are equally accessible to all.  The project will contribute to achieving the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) by addressing the health service needs of some of the most disadvantaged people in Africa.  Conceptualising disability along a continuum of activity limitation, the programme explores the interplay between disability and other factors that marginalise and exclude people from mainstream services and society.  EquitAble will use policy analysis along with qualitative and quantitative empirical research methods to contribute to a rigorous evidence-base that aims to bridge the know-how gap for national, regional, and international health policies and practice. The project will include over 8000 participants across Sudan, Namibia, Malawi and South Africa.  The sample will be drawn from a range of marginalised and vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities, war displaced people, women, street children, rural dwellers and people living in extreme poverty.. 

Commenting on its significance, Dr Hasheem Mannan of the Centre for Global Health said: “This project  has already achieved notable landmarks by getting the situation of vulnerable people on ministerial agendas both globally and through its launch by the Sudanese Minister of Health”.  Dr Mannan is also attached to the National Institute for Intellectual Disability.

The project has already attracted a high level of international interest, and  prior to its launch,  Professor  MacLachlan was invited as a European Union delegate to present the project at the Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health, held  last November 2008.

 “The EquitAble project, along with other projects on inclusive global health funded by the Health Research Board, Higher Education Authority , Irish Aid and World Bank, strengthen the Centre for Global Health’s  position at the leading edge of research in this area, ” concluded Professor Mac MacLachlan.