GCRF Inclusive societies: How to link industrial and social innovation for inclusive development: lessons from tackling cancer care in Africa
Lead Research Organisation:
The Open University
Department Name: Faculty of Arts and Social Sci (FASS)
Abstract
Economic development that is inclusive of all its citizens requires appropriate and sustainable links between industrial and social policies. An inclusive health sector can produce a healthy and educated working population; industrial innovation and investment can generate the low cost commodities and services essential for universally accessible health care. However such beneficial interactions, linking social inclusion to industrialisation, have to be actively built at local level: a demanding process of centring decisions within the different domains of industrial, trade and social policies on identifying routes to equitable growth via universal access to care with industrial viability.
This research aims to demonstrate "how to do it" in practical terms in low and middle income East Africa by tackling a "hard case" where current trends may actively generate inequality unless countered: access to cancer care. Cancer is an emerging health crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa: a sharply rising disease burden, very poorly diagnosed, that requires currently expensive medication and equipment not widely available, so that many go without treatment because of inability to pay. However, innovative technologies, and off-patent medicines offer potential for lower cost care: many of these are being developed in India, a country with a strong pharmaceutical industry and a track record of low cost production of health sector inputs. Furthermore, a number of African countries have a pharmaceutical industry that is actively upgrading to more complex technologies. In East Africa, much industrial production and innovation is strongly networked with Indian industrial partners and suppliers, including India-Africa joint ventures.
This research brings together an expert cross-disciplinary team from East Africa, India and the UK to research the scope for linking innovation in industrial production and in health care to increase the accessibility of low cost cancer care, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of disease, in Kenya and Tanzania. The research team aim to work across the public/private, industry/health, and India/Africa boundaries to generate and evaluate a number of scenarios for lower cost prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of a range of cancers; and the scope for further innovation and for Africa-based industrial production of relevant technologies. These scenarios will bring together specific innovations in industry and health care, and will be developed, evaluated and debated interactively with key stakeholders in order to maximise the scope for impact on improving access to cancer care, and industrial development opportunities, in the East African context. We also expect India to benefit from new ideas for linking industrial innovation to health care need and access.
Researchers will work actively from the start with health and industrial policy makers, manufacturers and regulators in India, East Africa. The East African team includes clinical expertise and expertise in health economics, epidemiology, health systems, industrial development and innovation; the Indian team is led by an expert in industrial-health linkages in the Indian context and includes health and industrial expertise; the UK team has strong expertise in innovation and technology management and scenario building and evaluation, as well as health-industrial linkages in African contexts. The team is built on substantial past research collaborations among team members and has long standing networks and competence in accessing collaboration from manufacturers; we have recruited an eminent international advisory panel to guide the research and dissemination.
This research aims to demonstrate "how to do it" in practical terms in low and middle income East Africa by tackling a "hard case" where current trends may actively generate inequality unless countered: access to cancer care. Cancer is an emerging health crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa: a sharply rising disease burden, very poorly diagnosed, that requires currently expensive medication and equipment not widely available, so that many go without treatment because of inability to pay. However, innovative technologies, and off-patent medicines offer potential for lower cost care: many of these are being developed in India, a country with a strong pharmaceutical industry and a track record of low cost production of health sector inputs. Furthermore, a number of African countries have a pharmaceutical industry that is actively upgrading to more complex technologies. In East Africa, much industrial production and innovation is strongly networked with Indian industrial partners and suppliers, including India-Africa joint ventures.
This research brings together an expert cross-disciplinary team from East Africa, India and the UK to research the scope for linking innovation in industrial production and in health care to increase the accessibility of low cost cancer care, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of disease, in Kenya and Tanzania. The research team aim to work across the public/private, industry/health, and India/Africa boundaries to generate and evaluate a number of scenarios for lower cost prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of a range of cancers; and the scope for further innovation and for Africa-based industrial production of relevant technologies. These scenarios will bring together specific innovations in industry and health care, and will be developed, evaluated and debated interactively with key stakeholders in order to maximise the scope for impact on improving access to cancer care, and industrial development opportunities, in the East African context. We also expect India to benefit from new ideas for linking industrial innovation to health care need and access.
Researchers will work actively from the start with health and industrial policy makers, manufacturers and regulators in India, East Africa. The East African team includes clinical expertise and expertise in health economics, epidemiology, health systems, industrial development and innovation; the Indian team is led by an expert in industrial-health linkages in the Indian context and includes health and industrial expertise; the UK team has strong expertise in innovation and technology management and scenario building and evaluation, as well as health-industrial linkages in African contexts. The team is built on substantial past research collaborations among team members and has long standing networks and competence in accessing collaboration from manufacturers; we have recruited an eminent international advisory panel to guide the research and dissemination.
Planned Impact
1. Who will benefit from this research?
The direct beneficiaries of this research will be: local policy makers in East Africa and India concerned with industrialisation, technology management, and health care; also within the same fields, local professionals including clinicians, policy-facing researchers and advisers, officers of professional bodies and NGOs; and local industrialists and industrial associations. In health, key beneficiaries will include Ministries of Health, public health agencies, the East African Health Research Commission, and at African continental level NEPAD and the African Union's Department of Social Affairs' Division of Health, Nutrition and Population. Internationally, beneficiaries will include global health funding and procurement bodies; international, bilateral and multilateral agencies concerned with health and with industrial development; and policy advisers and academics concerned with industrial development, universal health coverage and synergies between the two. Longer term, we would aim to contribute to improved industrial employment and wider access for patients to cancer care in Africa.
2. How will they benefit from this research?
In the industrial field, these policy stakeholders will benefit from detailed information on the "landscape" of emerging technological changes and opportunities relating to low cost cancer care; on the business models that can support local production and innovation in this field; and from the specific scenarios for innovation and local production to generate industrial development that also delivers benefits for health. In the health field, the key stakeholders in Tanzania and Kenya will benefit from new research complementing existing local information on access to cancer care; from specific proposals generated by the scenarios to produce and disseminate lower cost inputs to cancer care including involvement in developing ideas for health sector innovations to address these opportunities. The focus on generating India-Africa collaborations will benefit both industrial and health interests, since India is the source of much new innovation, and knowledge on innovation management, as well as a major trading and investment partner with East Africa: hence the project will identify new opportunities to benefit industrial and health interests in both African countries. In the longer term, the objective is to contribute in practice to improved industrial investment and innovation and to the substantial widening of access to cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care including pain management. Exclusion from cancer care is a major health challenge in Tanzania and Kenya, and our objective in developing concrete scenarios for industry-health collaboration is to feed into efforts, under way in both countries, to sharply widen access to care. On the industrial side, the scenarios aim to feed into efforts to deepen industrialisation, and to raise the technological level and production quality of local industry, benefitting output, employment and growth.
3. What will be done to ensure that they have the opportunity to benefit from this activity?
These benefits will be ensured through design of the research as a whole: the local research is led by local researchers and institutions with strong policy connections, and the research design incorporates iterative involvement of local Indian, Tanzanian and Kenyan stakeholders from the start. The scenario-building process centrally involves expertise and feedback from industrial and health care stakeholders. Furthermore, the perceived benefits, by government, of investment in either health care or industrial upgrading are increased when the inter-sectoral synergies are factored in, leading to greater incentive for active government support of the initiatives proposed.
The direct beneficiaries of this research will be: local policy makers in East Africa and India concerned with industrialisation, technology management, and health care; also within the same fields, local professionals including clinicians, policy-facing researchers and advisers, officers of professional bodies and NGOs; and local industrialists and industrial associations. In health, key beneficiaries will include Ministries of Health, public health agencies, the East African Health Research Commission, and at African continental level NEPAD and the African Union's Department of Social Affairs' Division of Health, Nutrition and Population. Internationally, beneficiaries will include global health funding and procurement bodies; international, bilateral and multilateral agencies concerned with health and with industrial development; and policy advisers and academics concerned with industrial development, universal health coverage and synergies between the two. Longer term, we would aim to contribute to improved industrial employment and wider access for patients to cancer care in Africa.
2. How will they benefit from this research?
In the industrial field, these policy stakeholders will benefit from detailed information on the "landscape" of emerging technological changes and opportunities relating to low cost cancer care; on the business models that can support local production and innovation in this field; and from the specific scenarios for innovation and local production to generate industrial development that also delivers benefits for health. In the health field, the key stakeholders in Tanzania and Kenya will benefit from new research complementing existing local information on access to cancer care; from specific proposals generated by the scenarios to produce and disseminate lower cost inputs to cancer care including involvement in developing ideas for health sector innovations to address these opportunities. The focus on generating India-Africa collaborations will benefit both industrial and health interests, since India is the source of much new innovation, and knowledge on innovation management, as well as a major trading and investment partner with East Africa: hence the project will identify new opportunities to benefit industrial and health interests in both African countries. In the longer term, the objective is to contribute in practice to improved industrial investment and innovation and to the substantial widening of access to cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care including pain management. Exclusion from cancer care is a major health challenge in Tanzania and Kenya, and our objective in developing concrete scenarios for industry-health collaboration is to feed into efforts, under way in both countries, to sharply widen access to care. On the industrial side, the scenarios aim to feed into efforts to deepen industrialisation, and to raise the technological level and production quality of local industry, benefitting output, employment and growth.
3. What will be done to ensure that they have the opportunity to benefit from this activity?
These benefits will be ensured through design of the research as a whole: the local research is led by local researchers and institutions with strong policy connections, and the research design incorporates iterative involvement of local Indian, Tanzanian and Kenyan stakeholders from the start. The scenario-building process centrally involves expertise and feedback from industrial and health care stakeholders. Furthermore, the perceived benefits, by government, of investment in either health care or industrial upgrading are increased when the inter-sectoral synergies are factored in, leading to greater incentive for active government support of the initiatives proposed.
Publications
Banda G
(2021)
Local manufacturing, local supply chains and health security in Africa: lessons from COVID-19.
in BMJ global health
Banda G
(2023)
The political economy of the African pharmaceutical sector's "industrial underdevelopment" lock-in: The importance of understanding the impact of persistent colonial extractive institutions
in Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics
| Description | 1) Barriers and facilitators for access to cancer care in Tanzania and Kenya The project has analysed 467 cancer patients' narratives of their pathways from first symptoms to treatment, including detailed timelines and patients' own definitions of relevant events, providing an innovative data set of patients' perspectives. Health professionals, care givers and cancer survivors were also interviewed in both countries (52 interviews, 7 focus groups), and health related manufacturers (14 in total). In Tanzania, where 62 patients interviewed, the median delay from first symptoms to diagnosis was 2.13 years. Analysis has focused to date on barriers and facilitators for access to diagnosis, recognising the extent to which late stage diagnosis undermines treatment effectiveness. Key sources of delay before diagnosis included many barriers to timely access to diagnostic testing. These included: slow recognition of symptoms indicating possible cancer; travel costs to testing facilities and lack of local screening; hard to afford out-of-pocket (OOP) charges for tests; slow turnaround times because of limited pathology capacity, organisational issues and travel costs for patients personally submitting test samples; limited public sector testing capacity notably at regional referral level; queues for consultation and follow-up and slow referrals. Conversely, examples of good practice in expediting diagnosis, including at primary and district level, were also identified and could be built on by policy. Cancer treatment such as chemotherapy is provided free of charge, but patients incur costs in travel and testing to access free treatment. Pain management was identified as a challenge for patients before and during treatment and in palliative care, and scenarios exploring scope for improving access to better pain management have been developed. In Kenya, where 405 patients were interviewed alongside 22 professionals, policy makers and care givers, interviewees similarly identified the high expenses associated with cancer as a major barrier; national health insurance and fund raising had helped some with affordability. Tests and treatment had been delayed or truncated for some patients by unaffordable charges. Wider use of screening and outreach were helping to counter limited awareness, fears and misconceptions. Decentralisation of cancer care capabilities in Kenya had increased accessibility and availability of services, including palliation, and median duration between first symptoms and diagnosis for Kenyan patients interviewed was much shorter at 4 months. Nevertheless, over 40% of patients identified items needed that had been unavailable to them (tests, treatments, medication, palliation and commodities such as prostheses and colostomy bags). Staff shortages and overworked staff were a major challenge, as were drug shortages. Patients frequently experienced the health system as a "maze" within which they struggled to reach diagnosis and treatment. Scenarios examining methods for improving local production of cancer-related medicines and commodities have been developed. Analysis of interviews with manufacturers in both countries has identified extensive practical scope for improving policy support for increasing health-linked local manufacturing for health benefit. 2) Indian cancer care and industrial innovation Findings from the Indian industrial survey, delayed by the pandemic, are currently being analysed. Findings to date from qualitative interviews on how industrial-health linkages shape cancer care in India include a case study of how cervical cancer technologies are framed in industrial decision making, showing a lack of integration between industrial and health policies. India's regulatory design is also shown to be largely reflective of generic pharmaceutical needs, rather than the requirements of the devices or diagnostics sectors, with the effect of blocking transfer of learning strategies between industrial sub-sectors. Case studies of the business models of innovative cancer diagnostics start-ups in India have been evaluated for policy lessons in both Indian and African contexts. Analysis aims to capture further implications of (lack of) industrial cohesion for health policy and draw policy lessons. 3) Covid19-related findings As an international team working on local industrial-health linkages, our team members have been drawn over the last year into supporting and studying the very challenging demands placed on local manufacturers by the pandemic and associated trade collapse, in the context of African aid- and import-dependency. As a contribution to learning lessons for both infectious and non-communicable disease contexts, we have generated and published findings on local health-industrial linkages in both East Africa and India during the pandemic. Vaccine manufacturing capability in Africa has emerged as a key area for industrial and research support for both pandemics and cancer care, and we are actively looking at ways in which the current rise in investment in vaccine manufacturing in Africa can provide a platform to strengthen broader biotechnology capability. In India, research on Covid19, including study of gaps in industrial policy guidelines for local production in the pandemic, and ways in which clinical uncertainties have undermined local production of testing kits across diverse countries, have also been reviewed for implications for cancer research and policy. |
| Exploitation Route | Our findings are already being used by: health policy makers in East Africa and in supra-national African policy forums; by industrial policy makers and regulators working with health stakeholders to integrate health and industrial policies to improve local health security; and by global and national health stakeholders facing a pandemic-induced concern with localising manufacturing of essential health supplies within highly import-dependent low- and middle-income countries. The response to national and international presentations of our work, and extensive invitations to participate in policy developments, indicate scope for further impact of our research over the coming period. Our scenarios development has provided concrete tools for locally contextualised policy development linking health and industrial domains, and we are increasing engagement to spread understanding of this policy tool. |
| Sectors | Healthcare Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| URL | https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/innovation-cancer-care-africa/ |
| Description | The project period ended on 31/08/2021, and impact work is ongoing. We report three main strands here. First, we are engaged in a continuing process of embedding research findings and scenario building in policy processes in East Africa and increasingly in the broader EAC, SADC and ECSA regions, building on the close stakeholder engagement that has characterised the project from the start in both Tanzania and Kenya. Second, the project has supported and promoted a renewed recognition in India of the importance of industrial organisation issues in health policy making, again involving stakeholders from the start. And third, the context of the Covid-19 pandemic has been profound in moving the central problematic of this project - the relevance of industrial development for health security in both Africa and India - to centre stage in national and global health policy making: ICCA team members have contributed to this extensive rethinking through a variety of routes. 1. East African impact The ICCA teams in Tanzania and Kenya closely involved high level policy makers and a wide range of other local stakeholders in project design and debate from the project inception. Both teams ran highly successful inception workshops; disseminated initial results to local health stakeholders; and ran high level national dissemination workshops before the project ended: all this was achieved despite severe Covid19 constraints. Health stakeholders advised on key industrial sectors and networks for follow-up research after the initial field research on cancer care experience. Stakeholder involvement has been key to health professionals' acceptance of project activity, and is now key to emerging impact. Findings from both countries have been initially disseminated as policy briefs and working papers, as well as presentations in local research forums. In Tanzania, a severe gap in pain management for cancer patients was identified, and a detailed scenario exercise formed the basis for engagement with relevant stakeholders, followed by a high-level policy focus group to take the issues forward: this process is ongoing. In Kenya, in addition to a similar scenario exercise exploring the lack of local availability and production of key cancer-related commodities such as colostomy bags and prostheses, the ICCA team have provided an invited briefing to the National Cancer Management Task Force, and published an invited policy brief on Kenyan industrial development to support better cancer care. ICCA work with manufacturers has been timely in providing evidence for the strengthened policy focus on local manufacturing initiatives to strengthen health supply chains in both Tanzania and Kenya. In Kenya, one ICCA team member is now a senior manager in BioVax, developing vaccine manufacturing in Kenya. Dr Manduku, Kenyan ICCA team co-applicant, was a co-organiser of a high level meeting in February 2024 to discuss how market shaping for local manufacturing of health products and technologies could make a major contribution to the attainment of universal health coverage (UHC), a government policy priority as well as contributing to industrial development. In February 2025, major book- launch events were held in both countries to showcase the project flagship book; these were well attended by senior policy makers and manufacturers in both countries, and led to extensive media coverage and proposals for follow-on impact work with policy makers. In Kenya, ICCA team members are invited to plan contributions to African CDC and ECSA discussions on cancer policy; in Tanzania, an official plans to feed ICCA research findings into the high level deliberations on the Tanzanian vision for 2050. 2. Impact in India The Indian ICCA team was based at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS-TIFR) in Bengaluru. Like many Indian national biology centres, NCBS was heavily involved in Covid-19 research and the development of solutions. The ICCA team's work on the relevance and importance of industrial organisation and regulation in linking scientific development to public health improvement was appreciated by NCBS postdoctoral fellows and science faculty, in campus panels. India ICCA team members have participated in Indian policy forums, promoting the wider acceptance within relevant Indian scientific research networks of the importance of industrial issues (such as market structure) for public health impact, in cancer care and more broadly. As a result of ICCA's work on cancer, there have been several collaborative efforts to explore new interdisciplinary research projects. The Indian National Cancer Grid project has invited ICCA participation in recognition of the relevance of the team's industrial perspectives for health policy. Srinivas, ICCA India lead, was an invited member of a number of Indian and multilateral, public and private initiatives to contribute to industry, innovation, and healthcare debates, including: the national Task Force on Energy Transition and Climate Finance (Gateway House, Indian Presidency of the G20) 2023; Sanofi RISE consultations on polio immunisation; Indian Council of World Affairs public panel discussion on Covid-19 and WHO; and Karnataka state government's Covid-19 meetings. 3. Covid19-related and other international policy impact Since this is an international health project, with a central concern for industrial-health links, albeit for cancer, the pandemic context forced sharp adaptations by the researchers, but also opened up new pathways to impact. While the extreme pressures of research during the pandemic slowed outputs and diverted health researchers to the immediate demands of Covid19 response, these experiences have also dramatically foregrounded the importance for health security of our core research theme of local industrialisation and industrial-health linkages. An international webinar organised by ICCA team members with their wider industrial and academic networks in African and India (and hosted at the Overseas Development Institute in London) has generated a published report on the importance of local manufacturing in sub-Saharan Africa for strengthening health systems, drawing on first-hand pandemic experience, and an international journal publication; this webinar report is now hosted on the FCDO website. An edited, open-access book has been published in January 2024, written and edited collaboratively, arguing for the importance of these Covid-19 experiences for cancer care in Africa in particular and for global health policy integrating health and industrial development: book launches have been held in London (April 2024) and Kenya and Tanzania (February 2025). We aim to use the open access book (which has had 26,000 downloads to date) extensively for further engagement and impact work, and to stimulate follow-on research. ICCA team members are also extensively involved in the international debates on localising health-related industrial production in low- and middle-income contexts, responding to demands of policy makers. ICCA India team lead Srinivas Co-Chaired the T20 Task Force on Global Health and Covid19, feeding into the 2021 G20 meetings. Geoffrey Banda is an invited contributor to the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI). In follow-on impact work, ICCA team members Mackintosh and Banda with others produced a first-of-its-kind document on Localisation of Medical Manufacturing in Africa. Funded by The Institute for Economic Justice (Johannesburg, South Africa) the report more comprehensively mapped the vaccine, drug, biologics and medical devices manufacturing footprint on the continent, and was launched in Johannesburg with pan-African commentators. This further elucidation of Africa-based manufacturing capabilities has help to accelerate ICCA's research impact in this academic field as well as in supranational and national policy making. The involvement is generating further demand for inputs from policy makers and industrialists, including: Banda' invited membership of AUDA/NEPAD committee developing a compendium of Good Pharma policies for African enterprises; Banda's work with GFA and SADC on establishing and broadening regional ARV value chains, aiming for a model SADC policy, informed by the framework of ICCA research on local production of oncology therapies (drugs, vaccines and biologics); and Srinivas' role as invited expert for UNIDO's work on post-pandemic recovery. Banda has now been asked to collaborate with the South African Human and Social Research Council (HSRC) on disease epidemiological shifts and use of scenario analysis to assess future healthcare infrastructure needs for non-communicable diseases (2024), building on ICCA work on scenarios for industry-health interactions. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | Briefing to Kenyan National cancer Management Task Force |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Co-organisation of high level meeting on Local production in Innovative Health Products and Technologies |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://www.kemri.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/14-KASH-Program-for-web.pdf |
| Description | Committee to promote local health-related manufacturing |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Contribution to T20 Task Force 1 Global Health and Covid19 |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://www.t20italy.org/2020/12/05/tf-1-global-health-and-covid-19/ |
| Description | Contribution to UNIDO Guide: A Guide for Promoting Pharmaceutical Production in Africa |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/files/2019-10/PHARMACEUTICAL_INDUSTRY_IN_SUB-SAHARAN_AFRIC... |
| Description | Guidance committee on product pipelines |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | Invited evidence for Ministry of Health on policy for non-communicable diseases |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Invited input to Ministry of Industry and trade policy work |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Kenyan government public appreciation of ICCA policy brief. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
| URL | https://www.kemri.go.ke/kash-13/ |
| Description | Participation in AUDA/NEPAD committee on pharmaceutical policies in Africa |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | The committee work is contributing to improving the policy and regulatory environment for pharmaceutical production and use. URL below reports the first consultative workshop establishing the ongoing AUDA/NEPAD project: ICCA advisor Mr Nazeem Mohamed participated in the workshop. |
| URL | https://www.nepad.org/news/effective-coordination-good-policies-and-practices-critical-africas-local... |
| Description | Impact and dissemination support Cross Njeru Makene |
| Amount | £35,962 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Open University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2025 |
| End | 07/2025 |
| Description | Impact and publication support Santos |
| Amount | £1,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Open University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2025 |
| End | 06/2025 |
| Description | Impact support Banda |
| Amount | £2,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2025 |
| End | 06/2025 |
| Title | Patients' "pathways" structured qualitative research tool |
| Description | This is a brief description of an innovative research tool for interviewing cancer patients, developed for the ICCA project. It is reported here, since the "research tools" reporting section on Researchfish does not currently permit social science contributions. The research tool was innovative in that it asked cancer patients to define their own perception of the various events in their "pathway" from first symptoms to the interview moment, rather than imposing a medically structured set of events, and then asked them to describe each event according to a structured set of questions including date, location, experience at facilities, and expenses incurred. the tool thus combined patient-led understanding of their pathways with structured responses on each event; findings could be cross-referenced to socio-economic data for each patient. The tool, as applied in Tanzania, is available as additional materials for a published article at the URL below. It has been adapted for further use by a Tanzanian doctoral cancer researcher, and an article further evaluating its strengths is in preparation. |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Currently in adapted use by a Tanzanian doctoral researcher. |
| URL | https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-021-07438-5 |
| Title | Systems-based scenarios: a technique for strengthening future cross-sector linkages for health benefit |
| Description | This is in fact an innovative technique developed within this project, but the relevant section of Researchfish does not allow its inclusion there. This technique develops scenarios about future pathways to impact that focus on cross-cutting linkages between sectors, such as health innovation and industrial production. Its novelty stems from scoping scenarios by using participatory "systems mapping" techniques. These systems mapping workshops engage local stakeholders from industry and healthcare, including clinicians, policy makers and regulators, to identify interlocking constraints and scope for intervention to generate sustainable health improvement. The outputs are scenarios about different innovation futures, and can feed directly into policy development. |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | This technique was used as an engagement and impact tool to develop shared understanding, across health and industrial stakeholders, of the scope for improving management of severe pain in Tanzania. |
| URL | https://esrf.or.tz/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ICCA-Scenarios-Working-Paper-1.pdf |
| Description | Collaboration with SADC and GFA group on local ARV manufacturing |
| Organisation | Southern African Development Community |
| Country | Botswana |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Dr Banda, ICCA team member, collaborated with GFA group and Southern African Development Community (SADC) on enhancing local production of anti-retrovirals (ARVs) and deepening local value chains. The work involve producing a model policy to enhance local ARV production. The report was shared with policy makers, helping to frame policy. |
| Collaborator Contribution | SADC member states organised workshops and focus group meetings, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Harare, Zimbabwe and Johannesburg, South Africa. There was then a validation meeting in Johannesburg in 2023 with representatives from all SADC Member states. |
| Impact | Report is not for public circulation. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Participation in the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative |
| Organisation | African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative |
| Country | South Africa |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | ICCA team member Geoffrey Banda has brought his ICCA research on technology transfer to participation in the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI). He responded to a request from an AVMI colleague, who is at BIOVAC, the vaccine manufacturing initiative in South Africa, to consult on what it takes to do effective technology transfer. The colleague requesting the work is a committee member of the Covid19 localisation technology transfer committee. Dr Banda is a continuing member if this networked initiative. |
| Collaborator Contribution | AVMI is a large networked initiative, including African and global partners, aiming to advocate for and support the establishment of sustainable vaccine development and manufacturing capacity in Africa. This involves bringing together interested parties, from politicians, policy makers and funders to manufacturers, scientists and medical experts, to drive this process on the continent. |
| Impact | AVMI is a large multidisciplinary networked initiative. Dr Banda's collaboration has been in the form of consultation on technology transfer for internal use within the network. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | 34th African Advisory Committee for Health Research and Development (AACHRD) Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation by Dr Geoffrey Banda, team member, at the 34th meeting of the African Advisory Committee for Health Research and Development (AACHRD), August 2020. AACHRD is an advisory body to the WHO regional director. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.afro.who.int/about-us/leadership/aachrd/about |
| Description | AVMI Advocacy Working Group Meeting. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dr Geoffrey Banda took part in a meeting of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) advocacy working group. August 2020. The concern to develop vaccine manufacturing capability in Africa is shared among those working on infectious (including pandemic) disease and on non-communicable conditions (including cancers, some of which, notably but not only cervical cancer, have links to viral infection). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.avmi-africa.org/ |
| Description | Accessing cancer care in Tanzania |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation by team members Professor Makene and R. Ngilangwa on facilitators and barriers to access to cancer care in Tanzania, at Second National Non-Communicable Diseases Conference 2020 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Details at https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/innovation-cancer-care-africa/news/accessing-cancer-care-tanzania |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.muhas.ac.tz/2020/11/10/the-2nd-national-non-communicable-diseases-ncd-conference-2020-at... |
| Description | Advisory role to UN Technology Access Partnership Working Group on Diagnostics and Local Production |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | ICCA team member Prof. Srinivas appointed as reviewer and contributor to aid the UN Technology Access Partnership (TAP)'s Working Group on Diagnostics & Local Production, member of a working group chaired at the University of Cambridge UK. Hosted by the UN Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries, with expert members from UNDP, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) among others. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://www.un.org/technologybank/content/launch_tech_access_partnership |
| Description | African Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative Think Tank meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Participation by Dr Geoffrey Banda, team member, in a think tank invitation-only discussion on: "What should African vaccine manufacturers focus on in light of Covid19 pandemic and the importance highlighted to local production." Vaccine manufacturing in Africa is a high profile topic now for both infectious disease and cancer and other NCDs. This meeting considered the messaging on vaccines and covid19 especially the rise in anti-vaccine sentiment and how this would affect vaccine programmes in the future. With particular reference to cancer, the programme highlighted was HPV and the link to cervical cancer. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Blog posts on industry health links in cancer care and lessons from Covid19 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Three blogs on the project website on industry-health links in cancer care, and issues for cancer care research and policy from work done by ICCA team members on Covid-19: 1) Local manufacturing for health care has become high politics during the COVID-19 Pandemic; 2) COVID-19's unexpected lessons for cancer care;3) Cervical cancer policy in India: can new methods bring health and industrial policies closer together? |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/innovation-cancer-care-africa/news |
| Description | Briefing to National Cancer Management Task Force Kenya |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Invited briefing by ICCA Kenya team to the National Cancer Management Task Force 2nd November 2021 at Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) training centre, followed by discussion with high level policy makers and practitioners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Cancer Care and Social Inclusion: Innovative perspectives from East Africa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A presentation and discussion as part of London Global Cancer Week 2021, hosted by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Presenters: Dr Veronika Manduku (KEMRI); Dr Mercy Karimi Njeru (KEMRI); Professor Fortunata Makene (Economic and Social Research Foundation, Tanzania). This session reported and discussed new evidence from Kenya and Tanzania on cancer patients' experiences; the perspectives of health professionals and care-givers; and on the scope for innovative approaches to achieving more inclusive care. 17th November 2021 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.lgcw.org.uk/ |
| Description | Cancer research symposium Dar es Salaam |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A cancer research symposium in Dar es Salaam, hosted by the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) and organised and facilitated by Prof. Ngoma, a leading oncologist from the Muhimbili University for Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) aimed to discuss the ICCA findings and also other ongoing cancer research in Tanzania, and draw lessons for policy and further research. A series of panellists debated research findings to date; policy progress and opportunities in cancer care; and requirements for increasing inclusion and access to care for cancer patients, notably by speeding up diagnosis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Co-chair Think20 Task Force 1 on Global Health and Covid19 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | ICCA team member Prof. Srinivas an invited Co-Chair for the Think20 Task Force (TF1) on Global Health and Covid19, under Italy's Presidency: chairing global virtual meetings and feeding into expert policy briefs for the G20 consultative process including issues that affect LMIC medicines, vaccines and diagnostics; discussions focus on Covid19 but include insights into systemic bottlenecks applicable also to cancer and other NCDs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021 |
| URL | https://www.t20italy.org/2020/12/05/tf-1-global-health-and-covid-19/ |
| Description | Colloquium: Innovation and capabilities in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Two ICCA researchers, Dr Dinar Kale and Dr Geoffrey Banda, plus an ICCA collaborating research, presented research and implications in a session entitled Inclusive innovation in the pharma/medical sector, at a high level Colloquium in Johannesburg, South Africa, May 2023, entitled Innovation and capabilities in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Research presented included both ICCA findings, and also findings from a follow on project for the Institute of Economic Justice in Johannesburg entitled Localisation of Medical Manufacturing in Africa. The Colloquium discussion showed how these projects are actively feeding into policy thinking. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.uj.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/colloquium-on-innovation-and-capabilities.pdf |
| Description | Conference on decolonising medicine in Africa and its diaspora |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professor Ngoma, ICCA member, and colleagues presented a paper entitled: "Against the grain: reflections on decades of Tanzanian efforts to build better cancer care - and ways forward" (authors Ngoma T., Ngilangwa R., Mujinja PGM; Mackintosh M; Cross C). The paper contributed to a conference aim of retrieving the important role of African clinicians and researchers in the history of medicine, in this case the career and contributions of Professor Ngoma, Research Professor in Clinical Oncology and founder of the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Tanzania. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.towson.edu/cla/departments/history/decolonizing-medicine-africa.html |
| Description | Conference on local production of innovative health products and technologies in Kenya |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A full day high level meeting on 13th February 2024, at senior level, discussed the theme of local production of health products and technologies in Kenya. The meeting organised by a team including a senior ICCA researcher, Dr Veronica Manduku at the Kenya Medical Research institute (KEMRI), Nairobi, who also chaired sessions. This theme has been central to ICCA project work and dissemination. Speakers included senior government officials, manufacturers, researchers, innovation specialists, regulators and academics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.kemri.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/14-KASH-Program-for-web.pdf |
| Description | Dar es Salaam book launch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The ICCA flagship publication, the open-access book Cancer Care in Pandemic Times: Building Inclusive Local Health Security in Africa and India (Palgrave/Springer 2024), was launched at a high level meeting in Dar es Salaam, hosted by the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF): the independent research institute that hosted the ICCA project in Tanzania. The aim was to disseminate the findings, debate them with expert event participants, promote debate on policy implications and discuss further work. The meeting gained high level participation from policy makers, health professionals and manufacturers, with substantial media presence and considerable media follow up (see separate entry). Approximately 50 in-person senior participants, with approximately 20 online. Extensive discussion of potential follow-up in terms of policy contributions and further impact-related activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.esrf.or.tz/2025/02/22/cancer-care-in-pandemic-times-book-officially-launched/ |
| Description | Designing the "SIRL" evaluation approach for participatory systems mapping " |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Abstract accepted for a prepared presentation for the International Public Policy Association, International Summer School on Public Policy, Nairobi, Kenya, April 2023. This presentation in East Africa addresses systems practitioners and researchers working in a complex low resource context, who need to better reflect, act upon, and learn about interrelationships between participatory systems methodologies and their context and intervention outcomes, and effective evaluation. The evaluative approach developed is applied to assess the impact of systems methodologies in an ICCA case study. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.ippapublicpolicy.org/summerschool/international-summer-school-on-public-policy-nairobi-e... |
| Description | Economic theories and practice of directing innovation in cancer care and COVID-19 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation by Prof. Smita Srinivas at the Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, The Hague; audience included associates of the Centre for Frugal Innovation in Africa |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.iss.nl/en/news/economic-theories-and-practice-directing-innovation-cancer-care-and-covid... |
| Description | Evaluating Systems Mapping Use for Health Policy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to the 64th Annual Operational Research Society, UK; September 2022, online, by two ICCA team members, Idris and Steenmans. Presentation entitled: Evaluating Systems Mapping Use for Health Policy: A Post-Intervention Engagement Case in Developing Contexts. Using ICCA findings on scenario development and aimed at disseminating this aspect of systems mapping, and its use in LMIC health and industrial contexts, to the wider practitioner community likely to pick up and use the methods. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.theorsociety.com/events/previous-annual-conferences/or62-annual-conference/ |
| Description | ICCA India Podcast series on cancer, policy and economics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Ten podcast episodes in three languages, English, Hindi and Kanada, in which ICCA India team members interview Indian stakeholders in cancer care, including scientists, clinicans, academics, manufacturers and innovators. Each podcast aims for a multidisciplinary discussion on the intersection of economics, policy and cancer with particular reference to India. Topics include medical devices and diagnostics; the role of the family physician in cancer care; innovations in throat cancer care; and the Indian "Choosing Wisely" programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://iccaindia.simplecast.com/ |
| Description | ICCA National dissemination Kenya |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Innovation for Cancer Care in Africa (ICCA) Kenya Study Dissemination Workshop for high level stakeholders, Nairobi, 18th August 2021. Hosted by the Kenyan Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Presentation of findings on cancer care, related industrial capabilities and scenarios for linking health need to industrial innovation. Discussion by national and County stakeholders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Inclusivity in the industry / health security interface: Calestous Juma lecture series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited online lecture by PI Prof. Mackintosh, as part of the Calestous Juma Lecture Series on Knowledge and Innovation for Development, hosted by ACTS, Nairobi, August 2021. The event was online-only, and the talk, entitled "Inclusivity in the industry / health security interface" formed part of a panel discussion on Re-igniting Africa's Industrialisation through Innovation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://acts-net.org/press-statement-launch-of-prof-calestous-juma-lecture-series/ |
| Description | Inclusivity in the industry/health security interface |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Invited presentation to a large international audience of innovation and development practitioners, academics and industrial stakeholders, as a panel member in the Professor Calestous Juma Lecture Series on Knowledge and Innovation for Development: Kick-off Seminar on Re-igniting African Industrialization through Innovation. 12th August 2021 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.acts-net.org/cj-lecture-series |
| Description | India-Africa workshop at National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, India |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Professor Smita Srinivas gave a presentation entitled 'Policy and markets for vaccines' as part of the panel 'Science, technology, industrial policy, and interdisciplinary training around vaccines' at the two day Indo-Africa Workshop on Integrating Genomic Technologies in Outbreak Prediction, Preparedness, and Control, at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru, 16 - 17 October 2019. Approximately 50 Indian biologists, virologists, biotechnologists, health foundations, private firms, cancer, infectious disease specialists, M.Sc and Ph.D. students and other researchers attended. The panel has resulted in more invitations and partnerships for Indian teaching and mentoring with novel cross-institute engagements with teams of computation scientists, clinicians, public health researchers, and biologists. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.ncbs.res.in/events/indo-africa |
| Description | KASH presentation: Access to Cancer Care |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Accepted presentation to the KEMRI Annual Scientific and Health Conference (KASH conference), Nairobi, Kenya, 8th June 2021. Title "Access to Cancer Care in Kenya: Patients, Caregivers and Health Provider's' Perspectives", presenter Dr Mercy K. Njeru. Followed by discussion of policy implications and further work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.kemri.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/11th-KASH-Conference-FULL-Program.pdf |
| Description | KASH presentation: Cancer and social pain in Kenya |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Accepted presentation to the KEMRI Annual Scientific and Health Conference (KASH conference), Nairobi, Kenya, 10th June 2021. Title: "Cancer and social pain in Kenya: Perspectives of patients, survivors and care-givers". presenter Lilian Nyandieka. Followed by discussion of policy implications and further work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.kemri.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/11th-KASH-Conference-FULL-Program.pdf |
| Description | KASH presentation: symptoms and help-seeking for cancer care in Kenya |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at the KEMRI Annual Research Conference, Nairobi, 9th June 2021. Presentation title: "Self reported symptoms and their influence on help seeking for cancer care in Kenya" Presenter: Sharon Mokua. Followed by discussion of policy implications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.kemri.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/11th-KASH-Conference-FULL-Program.pdf |
| Description | Kenya Inception workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Inception workshop for the Kenyan research, 22/2/2019 in Nairobi, Kenya. Workshop participants included senior stakeholders from both industrial and health fields. Presentations were made by the head of the Ministry of Health's National Cancer Control Programme, and the CEO of the National Cancer Institute of Kenya. Other participants represented the National Cancer Registry, the Kenya Network of Cancer Organisations, the Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association, and the Cancer Survivors Association of Kenya. Presenters from the industrial sector included a senior government official from the Ministry of Industry and trade, department for Industrialisation; also the Chair of the Federation of East African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (FEAPM), Mr Nazeem Mohamed, who is an adviser to the ICCA project; and the CEO of Villgro-Kenya, an active promoter of local innovation. The Director of the Federation of Kenya Pharmaceutical Manufacturers was also an active participant. Regulatory bodies represented included the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, and participants included clinicians from two major hospitals engaged in cancer care. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/innovation-cancer-care-africa/news/icca-project-holds-incept... |
| Description | Keynote address on the role of STI SDGs for strengthening health systems |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The European Commission, Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission invited Dr Banda, ICCA co-I, to give a public keynote address in Pretoria, South Africa, on STI (Science Technology and Innovation) for SDGs Roadmaps in Africa: sub-theme, The role of STI SDGs for strengthening health systems. Supported by the EU, the event was hosted in Pretoria in October 2024. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | LoMMiA report launch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Launch in South Africa (hybrid in-person/online) in November 2022, of the report "Localisation of Medical Manufacturing in Africa", follow-on work from the ICCA research on local manufacturing for cancer care, written and presented by two ICCA team members, Banda and Mackintosh, with opening remarks and subsequent commentary and debate by high-level African stakeholders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.iej.org.za/localisation-of-medical-manufacturing-in-africa/ |
| Description | London book launch: Cancer care in Pandemic Times |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A book launch for the ICCA flagship publication "Cancer Care in Pandemic Times: Building inclusive local health security in Africa and India" was hosted at University College London, Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP), on 18th April 2024. A hybrid event, the speakers included ICCA team members; UK academics; African pharmaceutical manufacturers; and staff members of a UK cancer charity and a UK vaccine manufacturing hub. Debate included contributions online (UK and overseas) to issues including access to cancer care in the UK and Africa; industry/manufacturing linkages and implications for health security. One objective was the share the results with UK cancer stakeholders, and this was successful with requests for follow-on contacts and additional networking. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launch-innovation-for-cancer-care-in-africa-tickets-869091063767?a... |
| Description | Nairobi book launch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The ICCA flagship publication, the open-access book Cancer Care in Pandemic Times: Building Inclusive Local Health Security in Africa and India (Palgrave/Springer 2024), was launched at a high level meeting in Nairobi, hosted by KEMRI: the government health research institute that hosted the ICCA project in Kenya. The aim was to disseminate the findings, debate them with expert panel members, promote debate on policy implications and discuss further work. The meeting gained high level participation from policy makers, health professionals and manufacturers, with substantial media presence. Approximately 70 in-person senior participants, with approximately 70 online. Extensive discussion of potential follow-up in terms of policy contributions and further impact-related activity. A full radio discussion programme on the project findings is planned for Kenyan radio in April 2025. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1022128626617970&id=100064625262221 |
| Description | Pain management for cancer scenarios: stakeholder workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Workshop with high level Tanzanian stakeholders to review draft scenarios on improving pain management for cancer. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Panel presentation, Africa healthcare webinar Pitchworldfast |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Invited panel presentation entitled "Framework and policies needed for the industrialisation in the healthcare sector" at the Pitchworldfast anglophone/francophone webinar "Africa Healthcare value chain from API to delivering the drug & medical devices to the patients through packaging & production", and discussion, feedback and shared experiences. 19th April 2023. Online. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://pitchworldfast.com/africawebinar/webinar/ |
| Description | Panel: Re-Imaging the Global Health Agenda: What Role can India Play? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | ICCA India team lead Smita Srinivas was an invited panel member, in 29th April 2020, for the Indian Council of World Affairs public panel discussion of Covid19, global health agendas in the pandemic, and Indian roles and responses. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.icwa.in/show_events.php?page=2&lang=1&level=1&ls_id=78&lid=31&arch=1&year=2020 |
| Description | Participation in WHO AFRO's African Advisory Committee |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | ICCA member Geoffrey Banda participated in WHO AFRO's 34th African Advisory Committee for Health Research and Development (AACHRD) Meeting, August 2020, on the theme of "Health Research in The Context of Covid-19". Dr Banda contributed a presentation on "Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa", including implications of local manufacturing derived from ICCA wok. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.afro.who.int/publications/report-34th-session-african-advisory-committee-health-research... |
| Description | Policy stakeholders workshop Dodoma Tanzania |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Tanzanian ICCA team held a Stakeholders Workshop with high level policy makers in Dodoma, Tanzania, 30th September 2021. The workshop familiarized participants with the findings of the Cancer Care Study in Tanzania, and presented analysis from the study arising from earlier consultations with a wide range of stakeholders in the health and manufacturing sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Practitioners engagement in scenario methods for industrial-health planning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Paper by ICCA member Steenmans and a colleague, accepted for EURO 2021: 31st European Conference on Operational Research July2021: this is a practitioner focused gathering and topic is garnering interest: "Addressing the 'analytical competence gap' in Community OR: lessons from a cancer care innovation project". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://euro2021athens.com/ |
| Description | Presentation to Macmillan staff |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Cristina Santos, ICCA project member, presented by invitation to Macmillan Meets, a meeting for staff of the Macmillan cancer charity, some findings from the ICCA research, focusing on the experience of cancer patients in Tanzania. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Presentations at 17th Globelics international conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Three accepted presentations at the 17th Globelics International Conference on "Innovation systems and sustainable development" (Costa Rica, November 2021); papers presented through online participation. Topics: . "The clinical foreground-industrial background of COVID-19 and insights for cancer care" (Srinivas); "Can Evolutionary Economics improve Cost Benefit Analysis? The case of Cervical Cancer and the HPV Vaccine in India" (P. Rao, S. Srinivas); "New approaches to learning and regulation in medical devices and diagnostics: Insights from Indian cancer care" (D Kale, S. Srinivas). Globelics international conferences are meeting points for researchers and practitioners involved in innovation, and Covid19 had raised the priority of health-industrial innovation in 2021 discussions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.globelics.org/events2/annual-conference/ |
| Description | Public-private Dialogue: Regional ARV Value Chain (South Africa) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dr Geoffrey Banda, ICCA member, working with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, co-hosted with the Government of South Africa a high level one-day Public-Private Dialogue, in Johannesburg. June 2023 evaluating the value chain for anti-retroviral production in the SADC region and the scope for value chain development. Contributors including government officials, manufacturers and academics gave presentations and then participated in group work on next steps. Approaches to health-industrial collaboration discussed built on previous ICCA work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Public-private Dialogue: Regional ARV Value Chain (Tanzania) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dr Geoffrey Banda, ICCA member, working with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, co-hosted with the Government of Tanzania a high level one-day Public-Private Dialogue, in Dar es Salaam July 2023 evaluating the value chain for anti-retroviral production in the SADC region and the scope for value chain development. Contributors including government officials, manufacturers and academics gave presentations and then participated in group work on next steps. Approaches to health-industrial collaboration discussed built on previous ICCA work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Royal African Society, Prospects and Forecasts for Africa in 2024 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | At a workshop organised by the Royal African Society at Edinburgh University on 6th February 2024, ICCA member Dr Geoffrey Banda gave a talk on " Post-pandemic: What has the pandemic response in Africa revealed about both communicable and non-communicable diseases across the continent? How are countries in Africa building their healthcare resilience and self-sufficiency through the pharmaceuticals and research?". The talk included a presentation and dissemination of the recently published ICCA book on Cancer Care in Pandemic Times (Palgrave Macmillan Open Access). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://royalafricansociety.org/event/africa-2024-prospects-and-forecasts-edinburgh/ |
| Description | Stakeholders workshop for cancer care in Tanzania |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | High level stakeholder workshop to discuss routes to improving management of severe pain in Tanzania, including potential role of local manufacturers, Dar es Salaam 21/05/21 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Talk for high school educators |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A talk at a leading national high school in Bengaluru to high-school educators from across the country. The talk called "Resuscitating Economics" used ICCA (this project) as focus and example. Educators expressed the view that the talk offered several practical strategies to deliver more pluralistic economics training required to address complex social problems such as cancer prevention and care. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Tanzania (ESRF): Dissemination workshop on innovation for cancer care study |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | National dissemination workshop for the Innovation for Cancer Care in Africa (ICCA) study in Tanzania, hosted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, by the Economic and Social Research Foundation. Presentations on cancer care findings, industrial capabilities and scenarios aiming to improve pain management. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Tanzania stakeholders workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A workshop for high level stakeholders in Tanzania, held on 9/12/19, including medical practitioners and leaders, civil servants, industrialists, government and regulatory officials, academics and NGO actors, to report initial results from the first round of field research in Tanzania, to consult and request inputs and discussion to feed into the next round of research and scenario building. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Television interview and other media reporting Tanzania |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A number of media interviews, during the book launch event in Dar es salaam in February 2025, including local professional experts, policy makers, and the team leaders in Tanzania and Kenya with the UK PI, resulted in two extended reports on Tanzanian television, and several articles with detailed and accurate reporting in Tanzanian print media - Kiswahili and English medium - of the discussion at the launch and the book's content. One of the links is provided below, to one of the TV reports. Other links include the following: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppH-5YTQeKo&ab_channel=ITVTanzania https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/national/costly-research-diagnosis-delays-worsen-cancer-crisis-in-tanzania-4935220 https://www.mwananchi.co.tz/mw/habari/makala/afya/hizi-hapa-sababu-za-kushindwa-kudhibiti-saratani-mapema-4935202 https://dailynews.co.tz/experts-combating-cancer-needs-social-scientists/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY864cGacz4 |
| Description | The uses of systems mapping in policy development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation by ICCA team member Steenmans, the ICCA lead in scenarios development linking industry and health, to the 32nd Biennial European Operational Research Organisations Conference. Espoo, Finland, July 2022: to an audience primarily of professional practitioners. The presentation entitled "The uses of systems mapping in policy development" drew on ICCA scenarios development *exercises, and aimed to introduce this use of systems mapping of health-industrial links in an African context to a practitioner audience interested in extending their techniques. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://euro2022espoo.com/ |
| Description | Updating the Economics of the War on Cancer |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Online panel presentation and discussion for London Global Cancer Week 2021, hosted by the National Centre for Biological Sciences, ICCA India team. This panel presented research toward updating the economics of cancer, from the India research team at NCBS-TIFR of the Innovation for Cancer Care in Africa project (ICCA). It also included a discussion with 3 leading Indians: a cancer scientist, clinician, and scientist-CEO, on bridging their own experiences with multidisciplinary approaches to addressing cancer. Speakers: Dr Dimple Notani, Assistant Professor, National Centre for Biological Sciences - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (NCBS-TIFR) (India) Dr Pawan Mehrotra, Founding Endeavourer, Aarna Biomedical Products (India) Dr Ravi Kannan, Director, Cachar Cancer Hospital (India) Prof Smita Srinivas, India Lead, and Co-I, Innovation for Cancer Care in Africa Project (ICCA) - The Open University UK; Visiting Professor and National Centre for Biological Sciences - Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (NCBS-TIFR) (India) 17th November 2021 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.lgcw.org.uk/event/economics-and-updating-the-war-on-cancer-hosted-by-the-open-unversity/ |
| Description | WHO AFRO Regional Brown Bag briefing on non-state actors |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | WHO AFRO Regional Brown Bag Briefing: participation by Dr Geoffrey Banda, team member, in an invited meeting to discuss how NGOs, private sector organizations, philanthropic foundations, and academic institutions (Non-State Actors) play pivotal roles in improving health outcomes, providing health services, health advocacy, and advancing multi-sectoral approaches to health. Contribution focusing on manufacturing contribution. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Webinar hosted: Local manufacturing for health in Africa in the time of Covid-19 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Some ICCA team members organised a webinar, hosted by the DEGRP (overseas Development Institute) as part of follow-on engagement activities from both the Industrial Productivity and Cancer Care projects. The closed webinar explored the responses of local manufacturers to pandemic needs during 2020, and drew lessons for policy and further research. The report is web published and will be widely disseminated, with the aim of achieving policy impact. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |