The UK-Public Health Rapid Support Team has co-created a global multi-disciplinary research programme to support and improve the effectiveness of infectious disease outbreak response in Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible countries. Our research priorities are co-identified with partners in ODA eligible countries and the research aims to provide evidence for improving practice across the following five themes:
- Preparedness and prevention
- Detection
- Response
- Impact and evaluation
- Operational i.e. research that addresses questions arising through deployments and/or urgent partner requests.
We work across research disciplines covering epidemiology, microbiology, clinical and veterinary sciences, infection prevention and control, social sciences, mental health, implementation science, modelling and One Health.
We aim to improve the impact of our research through effective community engagement and the formation of South-South and cross-border collaborations. We also provide expertise, training and technology transfer to strengthen research capacity in partner countries.
Our research projects
Since 2016, UK-PHRST has funded, supported and completed 50 research projects, spanning 20 low- and middle-income countries. See below for more information on some of our active research projects in collaboration with our partners.
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A multi-disciplinary approach to establish the critical clinical and epidemiological characteristics of mpox infection in Nigeria to strengthen detection, prevention, response and control, and inform practice in Nigeria and similar endemic settings.
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A collaboration between the KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya, UK-PHRST, the Kenya Ministry of Health and county public health officials to assess whether deploying portable whole genome sequencing resource during outbreaks of viral infections is feasible and beneficial to responses.
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A partnership between ProEpi, the Health Situation Room of the University of Brasília, the National Institute of Public Health of Cabo Verde and UK-PHRST to test and implement a community-led event-based surveillance system in Brazil and Cabo Verde.
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A study in Sierra Leone and Tanzania to track online and offline rumours and concerns about COVID-19 to better understand their mechanisms and influence, and to identify solutions to address community concerns during health emergencies.
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UK-PHRST research publications
Many of the UK-PHRST's research projects and activities have led to co-authored publications across different public health research disciplines. A selection of our most recent publications can be found below or see all our research publications here.
The views expressed in these publications are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Department of Health and Social Care.