Browsing by Person "French, Matthew"

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Implementing “from here to there”: A case study of conceptual and practical challenges in implementation science
(Elsevier, 2022-04-07) Reidpath, Daniel; Allotey, Pascale; Barker, Fiona; Clasen, Thomas; French, Matthew; Leder, Karin; Ramirez-Lovering, Diego; Rhule, Emma L.M.; Siri, José
There is a significant challenge in global health and development research that pivots on the difficulties of delivering (cost-)effective treatments or interventions that are scalable andtransferable across settings. That is, how does one deliver “true effects”, proven treatments, into new settings? This is often addressed in pragmatic trials or implementation research in which one makes adjustments to the delivery of the treatment to ensure that it works here and there. In this critical analytical review, we argue that the approach mis-characterises the cause-effect relationship and fails to recognise the local, highly contextual nature of what it means to say an intervention “works”. We use an ongoing randomised controlled trial (RCT)—an informal settlement redevelopment intervention in Indonesia and Fiji to reduce human exposure to pathogenic faecal contamination—as a vehicle for exploring the ideas and implications of identifying interventions that work in global health and development. We describe the highly contextualised features of the research and the challenges these would pose in attempts to generalise the results. In other words, we detail that which is frequently elided from most RCTs. As our critical lens, we us the work of American philosopher, Nancy Cartwright, who argued that research produces dappled regions of causal insights—lacunae against a backdrop of causal ignorance. Rather than learn about a relationship between a treatment and an outcome, we learn that in the right sort of context, a treatment reliably produces a particular outcome. Moving a treatment from here to there becomes, therefore, something of an engineering exercise to ensure the right factors (or “shields”) are in place so the cause-effect is manifest. As a consequence, one cannot assume that comparative effectiveness or cost-effectiveness would be maintained.
Implementing baseline ecological and human health field assessments in the Revitalizing Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) programme in Makassar, Indonesia: an interdisciplinary study
(Elsevier, 2019-09-03) Taruc, Ruzka Radwamina; Saifuddaolah, Maghfira; Agussalim, A Zulkifli; Wardani, Jane; Ansariadi; Sirajuddin, Prof Saifuddin; Rizalinda; Barker, S. Fiona; Duffy, Grant A.; Faber, Peter A.; Flerming, Genie M.; Henry, Rebekah; Jovanovic, Dusan; Lin, Audrie; O'Toole, Joanne; Openshaw, John J.; Sweeney, Rohan; Allotey, Pascale; Cahan, Prof Bruce; Forbes, Andrew; Greening, Chris; McCarthy, David T; Simpson, Julie A.; Chown, Steven L.; Johnston, David W.; Luby, Stephen; Reidpath, Daniel; French, Matthew; Leder, Karin; Ramirez-Lovering, Diego; Wong, Tony; Brown, Rebekah
Background The Revitalizing Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) programme aims to assess the health, wellbeing, and ecological impacts of a water-sensitive-cities approach to improving urban informal settlements. Incorporating water-cycle management and green technology sanitation strategies, we aim to reduce flood risk and improve sanitation and waste water treatment leading to cleaner and healthier environments. Here we present the initial design pre-intervention for evaluation in the first 12 settlements in Makassar, Indonesia. Methods Initial environmental, and wellbeing and human health assessments were implemented starting in October, 2018, in 12 settlements in Makassar, Indonesia. Ecological assessments include measuring of temperature and humidity via iButtons installed in select homes, recording of bio-acoustic to measure biodiversity within settlement boundaries, and trapping disease vectors quarterly. Implemented evaluation of environmental contamination includes sampling water and soil sources for total coliforms as well as collecting soil via bootsocks by walking predefined transects. Human assessment includes an annual baseline survey of all settlement households, assessing self-reported symptoms, health-care system utilisation, and subjective wellbeing. Additionally, children younger than 5 years are surveyed quarterly for caregiver reported symptoms of diarrhoea and febrile illness, blood samples and anthropometry are being collected annually, and faeces samples are requested quarterly. Findings Ecological assessments have provided more than a million temperature data points. 21 000 mosquitos have been captured and identified. A total of 114 water samples, 84 bootsocks, and 91 soil samples have been collected, with sampling prior to and during the wet season. We have identified over 600 households within the 12 settlements. Health assessments of children under the age of 5 years have revealed 282 children with collection of 234 faeces samples and 188 blood samples. Interpretation We have successfully implemented baseline ecological and human health and wellbeing assessment tools in all 12 settlements, which will allow for the evaluation of water-sensitive-cities approach in RISE programme.
Improving human and environmental health in urban informal settlements: the Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) programme
(Elsevier, 2018-05) Brown, Rebekah; Leder, Karin; Wong, Tony; French, Matthew; Ramirez-Lovering, Diego; Chown, Steven L.; Luby, Steven; Clasen, Tom; Reidpath, Daniel; El Sioufi, Mohamed; McCarthy, David; Forbes, Andrew; Simpson, Julie; Allotey, Pascale; Cahan, Bruce
Study design, rationale and methods of the Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) study: a cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate environmental and human health impacts of a water-sensitive intervention in informal settlements in Indonesia and Fiji
(BMJ Publishing Group, 2021-01-08) Leder, Karin; Openshaw, John; Allotey, Pascale; Ansariadi, Ansariadi; Barker, S. Fiona; Burge, Kerrie; Clasen, Thomas F.; Chown, Steven L.; Duffy, Grant A.; Faber, Peter A.; Fleming, Genie; Forbes, Andrew B.; French, Matthew; Greening, Chris; Henry, Rebekah; Higginson, Ellen; Johnston, David W.; Lappan, Rachael; Lin, Audrie; Luby, Stephen; McCarthy, David; O'Toole, Joanne E.; Ramirez-Lovering, Diego; Reidpath, Daniel; Simpson, Julie A.; Sinharoy, Sheela S.; Sweeney, Rohan; Taruc, Ruzka R.; Tela, Autiko; Turagabeci, Amelia R.; Wardani, Jane; Wong, Tony; Brown, Rebekah
Introduction Increasing urban populations have led to the growth of informal settlements, with contaminated environments linked to poor human health through a range of interlinked pathways. Here, we describe the design and methods for the Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE) study, a transdisciplinary randomised trial evaluating impacts of an intervention to upgrade urban informal settlements in two Asia-Pacific countries. Methods and analysis RISE is a cluster randomised controlled trial among 12 settlements in Makassar, Indonesia, and 12 in Suva, Fiji. Six settlements in each country have been randomised to receive the intervention at the outset; the remainder will serve as controls and be offered intervention delivery after trial completion. The intervention involves a water-sensitive approach, delivering site-specific, modular, decentralised infrastructure primarily aimed at improving health by decreasing exposure to environmental faecal contamination. Consenting households within each informal settlement site have been enrolled, with longitudinal assessment to involve health and well-being surveys, and human and environmental sampling. Primary outcomes will be evaluated in children under 5 years of age and include prevalence and diversity of gastrointestinal pathogens, abundance and diversity of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes in gastrointestinal microorganisms and markers of gastrointestinal inflammation. Diverse secondary outcomes include changes in microbial contamination; abundance and diversity of pathogens and AMR genes in environmental samples; impacts on ecological biodiversity and microclimates; mosquito vector abundance; anthropometric assessments, nutrition markers and systemic inflammation in children; caregiver-reported and self-reported health symptoms and healthcare utilisation; and measures of individual and community psychological, emotional and economic well-being. The study aims to provide proof-of-concept evidence to inform policies on upgrading of informal settlements to improve environments and human health and well-being.