PROJECT 1
CONTROLLING INFECTIOUS DISEASES WITH TRANSMISSIBLE VACCINES
The urgent nature of epidemic infectious diseases brings specific challenges in disease control. Epidemics can cause immediate health, social and economic impacts, and require complex cross-sectoral and global response as illustrated by COVID19 pandemic, the 2014 Ebola epidemic. Travel and globalization mean that infections spread rapidly around the world, so that global solutions are required for epidemic control. Recent developments in artificially engineered pathogens (dual-use research of concern) pose an added complexity to global biosecurity. Global systems, thinking and capability in biosecurity has lagged behind quantum changes in science, leaving us more vulnerable than ever to infectious diseases epidemics.
PROJECT 2
EFFECTS OF QUITTING SMOKING ON THE BODY
Most smokers are both physically and psychologically addicted to cigarettes. As a result, when they give up smoking, their bodies experience withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, insomnia, and depression, which can last up to three months. Most smokers are both physically and psychologically addicted to cigarettes. As a result, when they give up smoking, their bodies experience withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, insomnia, and depression, which can last up to three months. It’s important to remember, however, that every smoker is different—and some may find it more manageable to stop smoking without any help. Some think it is easier to deal with acute withdrawal than it is to put up with more mild symptoms for an extended period of time. Others say that weaning themselves off cigarettes with a nicotine patch or gum teases them and they prefer a more black-and-white approach.
PROJECT 3
SPORTS AS A SOCIAL CHANGE
The popularity of sport and its capacity as a platform to connect people makes it a mechanism with potential to address a range of social issues and international development goals. Over the past two decades, international sport for development and social change (S4SD/C) has emerged as a new and exciting vehicle for community and social development, including health promotion. Sport has been recognized by the United Nations as a positive tool to enhance cross-cultural interaction, break down social and cultural barriers and promote social cohesion. Sport for social development and social change S4SD initiatives aim to engage people from disadvantaged communities in physical activity projects that have an overarching aim of creating and maximizing positive social impact, including aspects of social inclusion and cohesion. The overall aim is to complete an international environmental scan of organizations which have experimented with sustainable funding processes to support their work, with the aim to prepare for the edition of a book of case studies to be published.
PROJECT 4
WATER ACCESS AND SANITATION SHAPE
BIRTH OUTCOMES
Globally, preterm birth (PTB) and low infant birth weight (LBW) are leading causes of maternal and child illnesses and death. In low-income countries, the challenges women face to meet their basic water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) needs may be a major contributor to adverse health outcomes. Many homes in low-income countries have no private drinking water source. Women and girls are tasked with fetching water from outside the home, which can be physically stressful. The lack of water and sanitation in the home forces women to navigate challenging, and sometimes personally threatening, social and environmental public conditions to collect water and to find a safe, private place to defecate, bathe, or manage menstruation, leading to psychosocial stress.
