Resources - Africa (Mesh)

Z Factor: Using themed drama competitions to facilitate conversations on psychosis

An overview of a project in Zimbabwe engaging communities on mental health stigma and discrimination. It worked to help combat stigma and open up collaborative pathways between the traditional/faith based and medical models of mental health treatment

Academic Literature: Lessons from the West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological and Social and Behavioural Science Research Priorities

Literature: Building the legacy of Ebola: Survivors, health systems and a blueprint for research and development

Project Report: An Exploration of the Lived Experience of African Journalists during the 2014 Ebola Crisis

Project Report: Epidalert Case Files

Repository: Ebola Response Anthropology Platform

Academic Literature: Conventional Wisdom versus Actual Outcomes: Challenges in the Conduct of an Ebola Vaccine Trial in Liberia during the International Public Health Emergency

Academic literature: Trust, fear, stigma and disruptions: community perceptions and experiences during periods of low but ongoing transmission of Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone, 2015

Academic Literature: Ethics of Randomized Trials in a Public Health Emergency

Project Report: Eh!woza: Intersection of Art and Science to Engage Youth around Tuberculosis

LITERATURE: Engaging 'Communities': Anthropological Insights from the West African Ebola Epidemic

This article, by Wilkinson et al. 2017, deconstructs notions of 'community', and the ways it is conceptualised and understood, in order to critically reflect upon methods of engaging 'communities' during the west African Ebola epidemic in 2014. 

Project Report UPDATE: Science, Art, Community: Building Interactive Understanding of Albinism in Tanzania

Standing Voice is an organisation that works to support people with albinism in Tanzania. This article explores how one of their projects, which communicates facts about albinism through interactive performances, navigates the cultural complexity surrounding albinism in Tanzania.

Literature: Research Report - An Exploration of the Lived Experience of African Journalists During the 2014 Ebola Crisis

This research report from the World Federation of Science Journalists explores the lived experience of African journalists during the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa with the aim of highlighting key professional, technological and social aspects required for effective journalism during emergency and post-outbreak periods.

Health Exchange: Engaging the public in health research

A collection of easily accessible articles outlining community engagement with global health projects funded by the Wellcome Trust in 2010. 

Evaluation of KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme Engagement – Programme-wide Evaluation

This case study is about a proposed programme of work on evaluation of the various engagement activities (public and community) that are undertaken at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP). The case study was based on a presentation delivered at the Mesh Evaluating Community Engagement Workshop 2017. 

Article: Evaluating public communication of science and technology: The case of the Ebola virus

Guide: Evaluating Engagement

Project Report: mGenAfrica

Project Report: TrypanoGEN

Project Report: Science, Art, Community: Building Interactive Understanding of Albinism in Tanzania

Project Report: Cultural Complexity and Talking Trees

Project Report: Confluence of the Old and New: Understanding Resistance to New Born Screening in Nigeria

Project Report: The Lucky Specials

Workshop Report: Genome Adventures and the use of Analogy

Project Report/Blog: The Lucky Specials and public engagement in the post-truth era: reflections from the 2017 Wellcome Trust International Engagement Workshop

Mwangi Chege, participant of the 2017 Wellcome Trust workshop "It’s Complicated: navigating scientific complexity in public and community engagement" reflects on learning from the workshop. In particular, the Kenyan premiere of The Lucky Specials, a feature film designed as both entertainment and engagement with audiences about Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis and the importance of drug adherence.

Project Report/Blog: Evaluating community engagement workshop: a beginner’s perspective

A participant of the Mesh evaluating engagement workshop (March 2017) gives there reflection on the workshop and the key learning that came from it.

Project Report: Samala Moyo

Samala Moyo is an interactive exhibition with an outreach component designed to open the Malawi–Liverpool– Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme (MLW) to the local community and creatively explore crucial topics in medical research. The project was developed from a small International Engagement Award-funded pilot project and subsequently received £188,000.

Project Report: Blood Sugars: Diabetes and Drama in Joburg and Soweto

Blood Sugars aims to improve understanding of patient and clinician experiences of types 1 and 2 diabetes – particularly in the context of urban South Africa; as well as to improve communication between patients, clinicians and researchers, helping to create a more detailed picture of the condition and how it might be managed more effectively.

Project Report: Genome Adventures: where science meets fun

Art is a powerful medium for communication and engagement with science. To create a collaborative project that melds art with research creative practitioners and scientists must be brought together, but these individuals may think differently, have different priorities and work in different ways. This account of Genome Adventures, gives a little insight into the process of bringing different disciplines together and the challanges and benefits that result. 

Literature: Beginning community engagement at a busy biomedical research programme: Experiences from the KEMRI CGMRC-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (Kilifi, Kenya)

An article published in Social Science & Medicine summarising the rationale for community engagement in research. The article draws upon published literature and local findings to outline the process of community engagement in Kilifi, Kenya and to describe issues emerging from its development and early implementation. It also briefly reviews literature on Community Advisory Boards and a range of related ethical, methodological and contextual issues related to developing effective methods for community engagement.

Project Report: Art in Global Health: Report and Video giving Insights and Considerations for Future Artist Residencies

In 2013, Art in Global Health set up artist residencies in six Wellcome Trust-funded research centres as a way of teasing out some of the more personal, philosophical, cultural and political dimensions of health research. This exciting project was born out of Wellcome Collection's desire to engage the curious public globally with the health research that the Trust funds - in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam and the UK. 

Guide: DRUSSA Online Research Communication Guide for African Universities

An online Research Communication Guide produced as part of a series of Development Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa (DRUSSA) learning materials.

Wellcome Trust International Engagement workshop report: Engaging with Impact: How do we know if we have made a difference? (South Africa 2012)

This report is based on conversations that took place at the Wellcome Trust’s fourth international engagement workshop: ‘Engaging with impact: how do we know if we have made a difference?’ The workshop took place in South Africa in October 2012.

Project Report: Tackling the ‘New Beast’: Mental Health for People Living with HIV

A blog post addressing the issue of mental illness amongst people living with HIV and the presentation of the community engagement project Project Khuluma which will be presented at the 21st annual International AIDS conference.

Literature: The Cooking and Pneumonia Study (CAPS) in Malawi: A Nested Pilot of Photovoice Participatory Research Methodology

In January 2015, the use of Photovoice as a participatory research methodology was piloted at the Cooking and Pneumonia Study Chikhwawa site in Malawi. Photovoice is a photographic technique that allows communities (including women and marginalised groups) to share knowledge about their perspectives and priorities.

Project Report: co-produced exhibition on migration, health and wellbeing in Southern Africa

Migration, health and wellbeing in Southern Africa: Co-produced exhibition captures experiences of LGBTIQ migrants and asylum seekers in Johannesburg and migrant men, women and transgender persons who sell sex in South Africa

Project Report: Chiedza’s Song: Growing up with HIV in Zimbabwe

Case study of a project run by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine which enabled adolescents in Zimbabwe to capture their stories and the stories of others living with HIV.

Literature: Engaging diverse communities participating in clinical trials: case examples from across Africa

This article focuses on community engagement activities employed at various AMANET-supported clinical trial sites in different countries, highlighting subtle differences in the approaches used. The paper also gives some general pros and cons of community engagement.

Literature: Trust and Health Research in Developing Countries: Summary of the issues (Wellcome Trust, 2013)

This literature review was written by Dorcus Kamuya for the Wellcome Trust's fifth international engagement workshop. It focuses on trust in the context of health research in developing countries and highlights a range of challenges affecting levels of trust.

Global Food Matters: An appetite for engaging with research (Wellcome Trust International Engagement workshop report, Botswana 2015)

Workshop Report: Discussion on the ethical, social and cultural issues that surround research into food, health and the environment as well as the best ways of producing activities that inform, consult and collaborate with communities.