The Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP), University of Cambridge, organised a week-long programme of meetings for five R4HC Policy Fellows who visited Cambridge and London in November 2019. These Policy Fellows were selected through an application process, following circulation of the opportunity among contacts of the R4HC partners. They each met with around 20 researchers in Cambridge and London, to get academic input on policy questions they were posing, particularly related to NCDs policy and health in conflict situations. The Policy Fellows who visited are:

  • Dr Tasnim Atatrah, Country preparedness and international health regulations officer, Central Asia, World Health Organization
  • Dr Mustafa Cemaloglu, Fellow, Pediatric Oncology and Haematology, Hacettepe University
  • Dr Khamis Elessi, Neurorehabilitation and pain medicine consultant, head of evidence-based medicine unit, Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University, Gaza
  • Dr Mouna Mayoufi, Health Coordinator, International Rescue Committee
  • Dr Mohammed Rasoul Tarawneh, Secretary General, High Health Council, Jordan

These Fellows reported that their visits had been useful and they are implementing learning from their visit. For example, Dr Elessi has started theoretical and clinical training of doctors in Palestine in palliative care. He has expanded the concept of palliative care to a new hospital (European Gaza Hospital) and is collaborating with a researcher he met in Cambridge, Dr Gita Khalili-Moghaddam, who has helped to provide VR headsets to help with pain management for children undergoing cancer treatment, in a context where the supply of painkillers is not always reliable in the besieged Gaza Strip. Dr Atatrah has co-authored an article on how WHO is working with the Kyrgyz Government to strengthen emergency preparedness and response, published in the journal Crisis Response in March 2020. She also hopes to collaborate with R4HC researchers by helping to develop an online course on emergency preparedness, Dr Mouna Mayoufi has worked on a model, largely inspired by the interactive voice system developed and used in northern Uganda: “Call for life Uganda”, that was presented by to her by Cambridge researcher Dr Rosalind Parkes-Ratanshi, using the same approach to develop health tips for the population of migrants and refugees. A similar approach will be piloted in Libya using a mobile app (through IRC health programs).

 

Nicola Buckley
Associate Director
Centre for Science and Policy