The award was made to Professor Gene Feder, an international expert on domestic violence at the Centre for Academic Primary Care in the School of Social and Community Medicine. Professor Feder, who received an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List, will lead an international, multidisciplinary team, including colleagues from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, An-Najah National University, Juzoor for Health and Social Development, the University of São Paolo, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Together they will develop and evaluate the primary healthcare responses to violence against women in low- and middle-income countries, with the ultimate aim of ensuring increased safety and better health outcomes.
The study will also test a ‘Health Systems Readiness Tool’ for intimate partner violence, which is currently under development by the WHO. The tool will enable policymakers and health managers to assess what changes to healthcare systems are needed to support appropriate primary healthcare interventions.
The research will build on the IRIS intervention model developed by Professor Feder in the UK. IRIS was the first European randomised controlled trial of an intervention to improve the healthcare system’s response to patients experiencing domestic violence and abuse. It is now a national programme, commissioned by a growing number of local authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Professor Feder said: “We are delighted to be one of the first recipients of the MRC’s Global Challenges Research Fund Foundation Awards. Our research will result in culturally appropriate and adapted interventions to engage doctors and nurses in identifying women patients experiencing violence and abuse, and linking them to services that can support them in Palestine and Brazil. Our learning about what works and how to assess the need for health system changes will also be valuable to other low- and middle-income countries looking to improve this important part of healthcare.”
Declan Mulkeen, the MRC’s Chief of Strategy said: “The five research councils involved in the Foundation Awards have been working collectively to provide new and broader approaches to meet global research challenges. It’s encouraging to see these projects tackling the broader environmental and economic factors affecting health, as well as using new technologies to bring cost-effective treatments within reach.
“The MRC has a strong track record in Global Health research, often in partnership. Infectious disease has been the main focus and remains the largest area of funding, but as countries develop, their health needs change. The Global Challenges Research Fund will enable us to tackle a broader range of health problems, for local and global benefit.”