KIT will join the 12th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health that will be held from the 28th of September till the 1st of October 2021.

Several of KIT’s advisors will be presenting (Christina Mergenthaler, Jake Mathewson, Pierre Pratley and Heloise Widdig), and participating (Mirjam Bakker, Harry Coleman, Margo van Gurp, Eelco Jacobs, George Lutwama, Masja Straetemans, and Maartje Schots) in the conference.

Although the event is being hosted in Bergen, Norway, by the Centre for International Health at the University of Bergen, it will be entirely online – with an interactive digital platform. The focus of this year’s conference is facing the global challenges in health, migration and equity. The congress will be opened with plenary sessions by Professor Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet and Professor Rashida Ferrand from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. 

KIT will share several presentations on recent research conducted within fragile and conflict-affected settings, particularly in South Sudan where we are part of the Health Pooled Fund consortium with Crown Agents, Montrose and the International Procurement Agency. From this project, we will present the results of a recent household survey of healthcare access in states in South Sudan and a corresponding study looking at the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare access and the response measures taken in the country. Two additional studies will be presented, including a study investigating the political economy of priority-setting for health within the Health Pooled Fund and one focusing on community health worker programmes in South Sudan and barriers and facilitators to their implementation.  

We will feature recent work in rural Bangladesh, which looked at the impact of the pandemic on nutrition, and found that, although the pandemic has increased hygiene awareness and handwashing, it has also increased the risk of malnutrition.

And, one of our experts will also give a presentation on a study designed to characterise and quantify the population of artisanal small-scale gold miners and their social system in Suriname and French Guiana.

Finally, we will share examples of our work on neglected tropical diseases and climate-related health challenges. 

In addition to providing a platform to present our research, we also look forward to this opportunity to strengthen our networks and create new partnerships. Are you participating in this year’s conference?

For more information on the conference and other speakers, please see: https://ectmih2021.no