Log in
A substantial programme of research carried out by LSHTM has provided evidence for a major shift of strategy and progress in global efforts to eliminate malaria. As a result, WHO now recommends a policy designed to ensure medically-treated individuals are non-infectious to mosquitoes. In addition, drug development partnerships such as the Medicines for Malaria Venture now include transmission interruption in the target product profiles for new medicines. Several countries have made strategic decisions for the prevention of malaria transmission on the basis of the research, and the senior investigators act as advisers to international anti-malaria initiatives.
Malaria kills around 650,000 children a year but can be prevented by killing the mosquito vectors. As mosquitoes become resistant to insecticides the prevention measures can become ineffective. Research at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) led by Professor Hemingway FRS has been instrumental in the development of current World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines to manage resistance, and has led to improved resistance diagnostics and novel monitoring software to integrate entomological and human health outcomes. LSTM's research led to the creation of the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC) which was established as an independent Product Development Partnership (PDP) in 2008. New, longer lasting formulations of insecticides developed by IVCC are now in operational use, and several novel public health insecticides are under development.
Research carried out at Cardiff University refined an addiction counselling method, motivational interviewing, co-founded previously by Rollnick, to improve the consultation for changing health behaviour (e.g. diet, exercise, smoking and drinking). Their published findings and resulting method are now used in health care worldwide, with good evidence for effectiveness. The impact of this work has been described as `immeasurable' and is reflected in industry guidelines and policy documents, and diverse clinical efforts that include the treatment of children with HIV-AIDS in Africa.
Trade and finance are the lifeblood of the global economy. Research conducted within the International Political Economy (IPE) cluster has tracked changes in how trade and finance are governed. This case study demonstrates the impact of the IPE cluster on a range of beneficiaries including national governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations. Via the £4.3M ESRC-funded Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR), members of the IPE cluster have influenced national economic policies, shaped policy debates on international regulatory regimes and informed the attempts of non-state actors to raise ethical standards in transnational corporate practices.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimate 3.3 billion people are at risk of malaria, with 219 million cases and over half a million deaths annually. The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) has applied new methods of research synthesis to malaria, and the results of this work have directly influenced important global decisions on malaria policies, including the adoption of new antimalarial drugs. In this case study, we report on the influence of the LSTM on malaria control over the last 15 years by preparing rigorous, up-to-date, timely systematic reviews on malaria. This work has also contributed to substantive improvements in the methodological rigor and transparency of the WHO malaria policy group in evidence-based policy formulation and guideline development.
This case study describes the impact on national and global tuberculosis (TB) control policy of research led by Cuevas, Squire and Theobald at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). Early research led to the publication of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Options for National TB Control Programmes `Addressing the Poverty in TB control' in 2005. Further research led to WHO endorsement of same-day diagnosis of TB by smear microscopy (SM) in 2010. This strategy has been implemented in Malawi, Nigeria, Yemen, Ethiopia and Nepal. Alongside this we have developed and tested approaches to bring diagnosis and treatment for TB closer to the community. Same-day diagnosis and close-to-community approaches have led to improvements in access to TB care and treatment, and reductions in costs incurred during care-seeking by poor patients in these countries and elsewhere.
Work by Dr Robert Smith continues to be used by government agencies in Mozambique and South Africa, has already guided the development of Protected Areas (PAs) with a combined area of 25,000 hectares, and has been used by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund to identify spatial priorities for their US$6.5 million funding programme. The team's research has had an obvious, direct and significant environmental impact in those regions. It has also had a broader global impact, including shaping the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) revised Key Biodiversity Area approach and developing software and training materials for conservation practitioners working in 103 countries. Protected Areas are the most widely used international approach for conserving biodiversity. Our research in Southern Africa is leading the development of systems for designing PA networks that meet biodiversity targets and minimise negative impacts on people in surrounding communities.
The Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) sought to achieve research-based change in policy approaches to food insecurity and famine in southern Africa by investigating a range of policy options and generating debate. The programme's success can be identified in evidence of use, as provided by a post-programme independent evaluation of RHVP; policy response, as observed in social protection policy changes in Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana and Mozambique; and policy outcomes, measured by the impact on beneficiaries of social transfer schemes put in place or expanded in scope due to RHVP influence on social protection policy thinking in southern Africa.