Scientists’ views from South Africa and Rwanda

Ntombekhaya Tshabalala in South Africa and Derbew Fikadu in Rwanda worked together with Agnieszka Ignatowicz (University of Birmingham) and Lucia D’Ambruoso (University of Aberdeen) on a recent Equi-Injury stakeholder workshop in Rwanda. It was this south-south knowledge exchange workshop that culminated to this podcast. 

Here, they share their views on what they believe is the existing most common form of partnership, often one directional serving the interests of some while leaving others stagnant. They identify challenges to this partnership, including the undermining of indigenous knowledge and ignoring people's innate abilities.

Despite the challenges, they acknowledge that well-intentioned partnerships exist and see the Equi-Injury project as a springboard for various stakeholders, including those whose voices are often marginalized, to introspectively examine their actions, share lessons learned, and encourage uncomfortable conversations.  When we respect, appreciate and see people as unique individuals, this opens way for equitable partnerships.

Stakeholders in the Equi-Injury project are encouraged to "throw away the box". Informing equitable partnerships, everyone is invited to "watch this space."

NIHR Global Health Group on Equitable Access to Quality Health Care for Injured People in Four Low or Middle Income Countries: Equi-injury

UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supported Study title: Knowledge exchange for evidence-informed injury care

What is Global Health from the Global South: Learning and Exchange for Research on Injury Care?

Every year, around 5 million individuals die due to various types of injuries like road accidents, burns, falls, or violence. Shockingly, 90% of these deaths occur in low- or middle-income countries (LMICs). Moreover, even for those who survive these injuries, disability rates are quite high, with around 40-50% of people being unable to work or disabled post-injury. To address this issue, the World Health Organization has called for the establishment of strong health systems that provide quality care to people who are injured to prevent death and disability. However, there is a lack of evidence on how to achieve this.

Our research partnership is based in Ghana, Pakistan, Rwanda, and South Africa, and we are working towards promoting equitable access to quality care after injury. To ensure that our research is grounded in the real-life experiences of injury and injury care, we collaborate closely with various stakeholder groups, including patients, community members, healthcare providers, and policy makers. Additionally, we aim to create equitable research partnerships and scientific hubs to support future researchers beyond the scope of our project.

Through this podcast series, we want to provide a platform for our collaborative to showcase the voices of our community of stakeholders. The series will feature discussions among members of the public, patients, healthcare workers, policy makers, planners, and scientists. Our goal is to facilitate a dialogue on how to improve access to quality injury care and to demonstrate how equitable research partnerships can support and inform these efforts.