Through multidisciplinary research and policy engagement we bring new understanding and action on critical issues around health and health systems, and how they overlap with other systems such as food, as well as nutrition, sanitation, epidemics and zoonotic diseases. Enhancing understanding of how to ensure healthy lives for all is a vital part of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) and has been an integral focus of IDS’ work since its inception.
Our research and analysis on innovations in health services and systems – including work on identifying effective strategies to address the challenges of antimicrobial resistance – is accelerating progress towards achieving universal health coverage in Asia and Africa. Our work on nutrition spans the spectrum from dietary transition and globalisation of food systems, through to responding to the ways that marginalisation and inequity drive high child malnutrition rates. We bring vital social knowledge to aid effective preparedness and response on pandemics. We show how direct impacts on the spread of diseases such as Ebola can be achieved by bringing learning from research on social issues and contexts to the right people in the right organisations at the right time. Together with our global partners, we are generating and sharing new knowledge and evidence to identify the underlying causes of poor health and social inequalities, and the progressive policies and practices that can help bring about transformative change.
How, for whom, and under what conditions does Participatory Action Research (PAR) generate innovation to tackle the drivers of the worst forms of child labour (WFCL)? This paper presents the findings of a realist evaluation that investigated how PAR groups facilitated children who work in...
The formation of CLARISSA Nepal Action Research Group 5 was prompted by recurring issues around children’s mental health and overall wellbeing that emerged through the research. The children involved are exposed to various forms of exploitation, abuse, trauma, and violence, all of which have a...
This is a report of CLARISSA Nepal Action Research Group 8, which is located in a busy commercial, historical and tourist destination in the centre of Kathmandu Valley. The theme of this group was 'Children enter the Adult Entertainment Sector through friends, relatives, and unknown persons and...
This document reports on a CLARISSA Nepal Action Research Group located in a major entry and exit point for Kathmandu Valley. The theme explored by the group was: children engaged in the worst forms of child labour due to the poor economic condition of their family. This unique group comprised...
As part of CLARISSA’s qualitative, thematic research agenda, Geographic Information System journey mapping and ethnographic observation was conducted to gain insights into the daily lives, experiences, journeys, and feelings of children involved in the Adult Entertainment Sector.
Two experts in infectious disease have been selected to be Policy Fellows as part of a wider Japan-UK collaboration to tackle the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to global health, with overuse of drugs, including antibiotics,...
This webinar articulates the research findings of a large participatory programme on Worst Forms of Child Labour in Bangladesh and Nepal (CLARISSA). It used participatory methods to build a micro level understanding of children’s lives, their workplaces, and their neighbourhoods.
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The UK went to the polls last week with Keir Starmer, as widely predicted, now installed as prime minister and the Labour party in power for the first time in 14 years. This blog asks, will this bring a change to policies on aid and development in Africa, and what should the priorities...
Chain Reaction is a documentary film that explores a ground-breaking approach to Participatory Action Research where children working in the worst forms of child labour and the small business owners that employed them, analysed their circumstances and took action.
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In this landscape paper, we aim to summarise the contextual factors that shape health emergencies and responses to health emergencies in the West Africa region (termed ‘health emergency cycles’).
Southern Voice and IDS are thrilled to invite you to participate in sharing stories and strategies to rebalance power in the knowledge ecosystem. Your stories and strategies will be a source of inspiration, mutual learning, and the basis for strategizing a long-term action and research...
The study of food environments is rapidly gaining popularity as they sit at the heart of food systems. Food environments are people’s surrounding food landscape – the places and the contexts in which they acquire food and which influence their food choices, from formal retail and marketing...
In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).