A child in urban Africa with asthma is more likely to be misdiagnosed, untreated, or dead than a child with the same condition in the UK. This research group aims to change that by building a continent-wide network to improve asthma diagnosis, treatment, and awareness among African children. The problem is stark: asthma is underdiagnosed and poorly managed in many African cities, where rising urban pollution and limited healthcare infrastructure collide. A 2017 study in Lagos found that only 10% of over 1,000 secondary school teachers had good knowledge of asthma—meaning children’s symptoms are often missed or dismissed. The group brings together the Pan African Thoracic Society (1,000+ respiratory clinicians), the European Respiratory Society (2,000+ paediatricians), the World Health Organization, and major African research centres in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria. If successful, this work could shift everyday clinical practice: better-trained teachers and health workers, cheaper diagnostic tools, and treatment protocols adapted for local settings. The group’s direct links with health ministries mean findings can move from research papers into policy and training programmes within years, not decades.
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A strategic aim of the Blizard Institute at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is to support research into non-communicable diseases, including asthma. Embedded in the Blizard Institute is the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research, This Centre was launched in 2014, with the specific aim of improving the quality of life of people with asthma. The Blizard Institute aims to generate knowledge via research that is not only applicable to UK populations, but also to populations in low and middle income countries. For example, it currently hosts major research programmes in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mongolia, and Bangladesh - and is part of the Wellcome Trust Bloomsbury Centre for Global Health Research, and administers the Wellcome Trust's Clinical PhD Programme in Global Health Research. The Blizard Institute’s infrastructure is ideally suited to support this proposed Global Health Research Group. First, it is the largest institute of Barts and the London School of Medicine and delivers excellence in all aspects of research, teaching and clinical service. Second, it supports 460 full time staff, 83 postdoctoral fellows, and 169 PhD/MD students. Third, it fosters multidisciplinary research with academic expertise (within the same building in Whitechapel) ranging from basic science, to primacy care, epidemiology, and child health. The Institute is part of the QMUL's School of Medicine and is internationally recognised with more than £60 million per year in research income. Indeed, the School of Medicine was placed within the top 7 UK institutions in all three relevant Units of Assessment in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise. The Blizard Institute donates all infrastructural support and applicants' time to the project. Our partnership via Dr. Rylance with the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome (MLW) Trust Clinical Research Programme delivers a major African Research Centre that conducts internationally excellent science with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. It is built around world-class laboratories, strategically located in the largest hospital in Malawi, and closely linked with the local community. Its partnership with the Malawi Ministry of Health, ensures that research is rapidly translated to improving human health outcomes. In addition, the focus of MLW on lung health spanning both community and hospital, maps to the aims of this Group. Our link via Mortimer with the Liverpool School of Tropic Medicine, delivers a wide range of other partnerships including the Liverpool-Glasgow Centre for Global Health Research, the Wellcome Trust. Mortimer, Rylance, and Grigg, are members of the MRC-BREATHE Africa partnership, with its focus on improving children's health across Africa by reducing air pollution. Prof. Refiloe, as Secretary of the Pan African Thoracic Society (PATS), delivers to this Group a network of over 1000 respiratory clinicians across the continent of Africa. She will ensure that the PATS network is available for advice and dissemination. Prof. Grigg as Head of the Paediatrics Assembly of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), delivers a global network of over 2000 respiratory paediatricians, with ERS support for publications, research workshops, public engagement, and advocacy. This Group furthermore works in a formal partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO). Prof. Fortune is part of the steering group of the Global Knowledge Exchange Network (GKEN) consisting of academics in the UK, USA and Europe who work to support teaching and training via mobile phone technology across several African countries. This project responds to the concerns of international bodies such as the WHO and the Global Asthma Network (GAN), and to our African applicants' research that has identified paediatric asthma as a high priority in their urban areas. For example, Dr. Adeyeye in Lagos found that only 10% of over 1000 Nigerian secondary school teachers had good knowledge of asthma (Am J Resp Care Med 2017:1
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