Research award success for IGHD lecturer
Karina Kielmann, Senior Lecturer in QMU’s Institute for Global Health & Development (IGHD), has been awarded £110,000 from the Joint Health Systems Research Initiative Development Grant for her work on elder care in China.
The initiative, funded by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for International Development, seeks to encourage research that addresses key questions on strengthening and improving health systems in developing countries.
Co-investigators from QMU include Professor Brendan McCormack (Head of the Division of Nursing) and Guanyang Zou, who is a doctoral candidate in IGHD and is currently based at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhoun, China.
The 16-month project, which begins in September, has been developed in collaboration with medical anthropology, nursing, and public health researchers at Sun Yat-Sen University to build evidence towards the development of a stroke care system for older adults in Guangdong Province.
China's population is ageing rapidly and approximately half of adults over 60 are affected by chronic diseases. Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability in the country – but stroke care is fragmented, and has a significant impact on health expenditure in the country.
The team will employ ethnographic and health systems research methods to explore how health and social systems are currently working to enable or hinder continuity of care for older adults with chronic disease conditions, with a specific focus on stroke patients' journeys through recovery and rehabilitation.
Professor Alastair Ager, Director of IGHD, said: "This highly significant award signals our work to be at the cutting edge of thinking on the development of health systems that address emerging global health challenges.
“It also marks the potential for internal collaboration with world leading research groups, such as our colleagues in nursing, and external partnerships established through our doctoral programme."
Notes to Editor
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