Participatory Engagement for City Communities Against NCD Risk in Bangladesh and Nepal (PECAN) 

Project Summary

The main aim of this project is to equip policymakers, practitioners, and citizens with strategies that are fair, sustainable, and based on solid evidence to improve health and reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in cities. 

Our project aims to develop solutions that consider the needs and input of the entire community, ensuring that they are practical and can be applied widely. With a whole population focus on (NCD) risks, this mixed method implementation research will provide a comparative case study on adaptation, application and evaluation of participatory community interventions (PLA) in cities in Nepal and Bangladesh to address risk determinants and consequences. This approach ensures that the strategies we create are not only evidence-based but also co-developed with the community, making them more likely to succeed in the long term.

The intervention will focus on a few key strategies, such as promoting group-based physical activities, using digital health tools (mHealth) to spread health messages, and using creative, arts-based methods to engage the community. We will also focus specifically on physical activity outcomes among women aged 50+. By targeting this group, we hope to highlight how social factors like interactions within the community, the local environment, and traditional gender roles can affect health behaviors like physical activity. The outcomes of this focus will serve as an example of how underrepresented groups can benefit from targeted interventions, especially in terms of improving health through increased physical activity.

Key Project Information

Dates: 01/08/2024 - 31/01/2028 (proposed end date).

UCL lead/Principal Investigator: Professor Edward Fottrell and Dr. Joanna Morrison

Lead organisation:UCL, IGH's Department for Environment and Community Health

Partners: Centre for Health Research & Implementation, Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, Bangladesh (CHRI-BADAS) and HERD International, Nepal

Location: Bangladesh and Nepal

Funding: UK Medical Research Council under the Global Alliance of Chronic Diseases cities initiative

Contact: e.fottrell@ucl.ac.uk and joanna.morrison@ucl.ac.uk