Welcome - East Africa (Mesh-Literature)

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.

Published Literature: Rumours, Riots and the rejection of mass drug administration for the treatment of schistosomiasis in Morogoro, Tanzania

This article from 2016 in the Journal of Biosocial Science outlines the case of a mass drug administration programme in Tanzania which had to be suspened after community riots

Published Literature: Involving young people in health research

This study published by Wellcome in 2021 explores the role, benefits and potential of young people’s involvement in health research, with a focus on mental health, infectious diseases and global heating. It provides recommendations on how to meaningfully involve young people in research, and what it means to do that well.

Webinar: Why is it important for health researchers to engage school students?

This webinar from Dr Alun Davies from KEMRI | Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya, outlines the goals, methods and outcomes of school engagement as a “win-win” engagement approach for both researchers and students

Literature: Who should decide about children’s and adolescents’ participation in health research?

This paper from BMC Medical Ethics explores how researchers and research centres can activtly involve children and young people in health research activities and in the development of research proposals. They used group discussions with community members and schools students in rural Kenya to explore views on the topic.

Published Literature: The Polio Communication Network Contribution to the Polio Outbreak Response in Ethiopia's Somali Region, 2013-2015

This article explores the Polio Communication Network's contribution to the polio outbreak response in the Somali Region of Ethiopia from 2013 to 2015. The article explores the barriers that prevented communities in seeking immunizations and they include weak health worker interpersonal communication during immunization sessions, in accessible immunization site, fear of vaccine side effects and reactions and inconvenient timing of sessions.

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.