Prof Alastair Leyland of the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit will lead a new NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Inequalities, which has received a £7 million investment for five years.

Photo of a crowd scene

Prof Alastair Leyland has been awarded £7 million for five years by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to establish a Global Health Research Unit on Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Inequalities. The new Unit has global collaborators in Brazil and Ecuador – two Latin American countries that show marked inequalities in health.

Governments in Brazil and Ecuador have introduced policies, such as conditional cash transfers or housing programmes for the very poor, to reduce the impact of social conditions such as poverty. Similarly, governments may introduce environmental policies to protect the environment and mitigate any harmful effects on living conditions.

The NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Inequalities will focus on:

  • discovering which policies impact health
  • whether they had a bigger impact on disadvantaged groups, and
  • how the organisation and provision of the health system could optimise any positive health impacts.

Prof Leyland said:

"We are excited to embark on this five-year programme building on an established collaboration in Brazil and working with new colleagues in Ecuador. This Unit represents a substantial investment from NIHR and we are keen to understand how different policies may work to improve health and reduce health inequalities. We hope that our learning from Brazil and Ecuador will be applicable globally."

First published: 15 September 2022

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