Through multidisciplinary research and policy engagement we bring new understanding and action on critical issues around health and health systems, and how they overlap with other systems such as food, as well as nutrition, sanitation, epidemics and zoonotic diseases. Enhancing understanding of how to ensure healthy lives for all is a vital part of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) and has been an integral focus of IDS’ work since its inception.
Our research and analysis on innovations in health services and systems – including work on identifying effective strategies to address the challenges of antimicrobial resistance – is accelerating progress towards achieving universal health coverage in Asia and Africa. Our work on nutrition spans the spectrum from dietary transition and globalisation of food systems, through to responding to the ways that marginalisation and inequity drive high child malnutrition rates. We bring vital social knowledge to aid effective preparedness and response on pandemics. We show how direct impacts on the spread of diseases such as Ebola can be achieved by bringing learning from research on social issues and contexts to the right people in the right organisations at the right time. Together with our global partners, we are generating and sharing new knowledge and evidence to identify the underlying causes of poor health and social inequalities, and the progressive policies and practices that can help bring about transformative change.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned in 2020 that people with disabilities, may be impacted more significantly by Covid-19 than general populations. They urged for governments to mitigate this impact by taking appropriate actions and protective measures.
As of March 2022, South Africa has...
As Brazil heads into a decisive election later this year, it finds itself at the forefront of the global debate on political extremism and disinformation. While trust in institutions and civic engagement are at a historic low, civil society organisations and movements are engaged in reversing...
Inclusive and rigorous peacebuilding evaluation is both vital and complex. In this blog we share examples of how we are innovating our methodologies to move towards participatory and adaptive practice.
The challenges of peacebuilding evaluation
Peacebuilding processes and interventions are...
The climate imperative to reduce production and consumption of fossil fuels is well recognized. But what is less well understood and supported is the need to ensure that the world’s poorest citizens, many of whom live in resource rich countries, are not left behind. A just transition – one...
There is an abundance of available evidence on the effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing, detecting and treating malaria, TB and HIV in Nigeria.
The evidence suggests that future interventions concerning these three diseases should focus on health systems strengthening, considering...
Malaria, human immune deficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) are leading causes of death and public health threat to millions in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The DRC is the second most malaria affected sub-Saharan African country after Nigeria, with malaria being the leading cause...
In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the addition of Disease X, a hypothetical infectious threat, to its blueprint list of priority diseases. In the construction of discourse that circulated following this announcement, conceptions of Disease X intersected with representations...
How and under what conditions does citizen-led social and political action contribute to empowerment and accountability? What are the strategies used, and with what outcomes, especially in settings which are democratically weak, politically fragile and affected by legacies of violence and...
This narrative literature review addresses the question: what are the different forms and processes of inequity seen to influence unequal food security and nutrition outcomes in the context of agricultural commercialisation in sub-Saharan Africa?
In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).