Jo Hart and Lucie Byrne-Davis from the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at the University are leading a project to strengthen Health Partnerships in low and middle income countries using behavioural science.

After working with colleagues in Uganda, Drs Hart and Byrne-Davis recruited health psychologists from across the UK to join existing health partnerships, that are funded through the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET).

Health partnerships are links between high and low or middle income country healthcare organisations in which healthcare professionals support, mentor, teach and work with their counterparts. Often their purpose is to enhance clinical practice.

Our volunteers explored the impact of the health partnerships’ interventions on professional practice. They worked with partnerships on understanding, evaluating and driving behaviour change. The Change Exchange worked with projects in Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique with partners in the UK including the Universities, Hospitals and The Royal College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and The Royal College of Midwives.

The project was funded by grants from the Tropical Health & Education Trust with The UK Department for International Development and Health Education England’s Global Health Exchange. Although this funding has now come to an end, the work of the Change Exchange is continuing. We are working with the World Federation for the Societies of Anaestheologists, supporting them to understand and evaluate the impact of their Safer Anaesthetics From Education (SAFE) programme in Tanzania, Nepal, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Our volunteers will travel to Tanzania to observe and code the training for behaviour change components and evaluate changes in practice following the course. They will also train and supervise local clinical fellows in qualitative research methods to build capacity in the team to conduct behavioural research in the 4 countries. We are exploring other ways that health psychologists might volunteer and gain experience of working with the colleagues in other countries, including mentoring for academic writing.

To find out more visit the Manchester Implementation Science Collaboration website.