Tackling health disparities through social innovation

About the project

A collaboration between UCL STEaPP, UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL Institute for Global Health, UCL Institute for Global Prosperity and the Brent Health Matters (BHM) programme in the London Borough of Brent
 
This 9-month development grant research funding (Nov 2022 - July 2023) will enable the consortium to use the London borough of Brent as a case study for place-based learning, examining the Brent Health Matters programme as an instance of social innovation in response to health disparities. This research builds on pilot work co-led in 2022 by Dr Maria Kett (UCL Epidemiology and Public Health) and Dr Julius Mugwagwa (UCL STEaPP) which was supported by UCL Health of the Public's seed funding for cross-disciplinary research. 
 
Fostering collaboration among multiple agencies, - a key feature in social innovations - BHM is at the forefront of developing and deploying solutions to systemic health challenges in Brent. Using a combination of the Syndemic Theory and Social Determinants of Health, this research will examine whether and how BHM as a social innovation is resulting in the inclusion and agency of different actors in responding to health disparities and broader societal challenges in the borough. Policies, spaces and interactions will be critical in the analyses. The project will undertake participatory action research (PAR) to identify community assets in Brent and map their potential to improve health. The researchers will then work with partners to produce a framework and explore different collaborative models and policy levers for co-designing inclusive community-led interventions that will utilise these assets to improve health and well-being. 
 
The issues explored by this research are at the centre of questions being asked by academics in many disciplines, including but not limited to social policy, epidemiology, public health, health policy, anthropology and the emerging field of creative health. Various policy, practitioner and user communities are also keenly engaging with how to tackle ever-increasing health disparities, especially in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. Different outputs from the project-oriented towards these various communities will be available from the second half of 2023. 

Team

Lead Institution
UCL

UCL Researchers
Dr Maria Kett, Dr Julius Mugwagwa
 
Collaborators 
London Borough of Brent