Current Projects

Reporting in context: An interdisciplinary initiative to strengthen maternal health services and surveillance in Ethiopia and Tanzania (funded by the Research Council of Norway,  August 2021 – July 2026)

The project is a collaboration between experienced researchers from the University of Bergen, Addis Ababa University, University of Dar es Salaam, and University of Sussex.

The primary objective of this project is to improve the quality of maternal mortality reporting to strengthen the knowledge on which to base remedial action to reduce maternal deaths. The secondary objectives: 1. Investigate systematic differences between how clinical care is delivered and how it is reported in MDSR registries and reviews on health facility level 2. Uncover how reported maternal mortality data is reviewed and managed within the health bureaucracy, and how / to what extent feedback mechanisms work to identify remedial action 3. Investigate legal frameworks surrounding the maternal surveillance and reporting system 4. Develop measures to improve maternal mortality reporting, including measures to enhance the balance between professional accountability and legal protection of health professionals

Project members from HEMIL: Prof Haldis Haukanes and Prof. Siri Lange

Dihydroartemisinin-Piperaquine and Sulphadoxine Pyrimethamine for the Chemoprevention of Malaria in Children with Sickle Cell Anaemia in eastern and southern Africa: a double-blind three-arm randomised trial (the CHEMCHA trial). (Funded by the Norwegian Research Council 2019-2024)

Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA) is one of the most common inherited disorders in the world: annually, 300,000 children are born with this disorder. Patients suffer repeated ill health and early mortality most often due to severe complications related to hypoxia often precipitated by febrile illnesses. In particular, children with SCA suffer severe complications and much higher mortality if hospitalised with malaria. Thus, in malaria endemic areas, all are prescribed malaria chemoprevention. However, current chemoprevention regimes are either difficult to adhere to or have sub-optimal efficacy. Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) is showing promise to become the malaria chemoprevention agent of choice for children and pregnant women. However, DP lack the antimicrobial and antiflammatory Properties of SP, and there is some concern that other sick visits than malaria may increase if SP is replaced. At the end of the study, we shall have available comprehensive evidence on the efficacy, safety, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of the two regimes and which will guide regional policy and national guidelines for preventing malaria in children with SCA.

Project members from HEMIL: Prof. Siri Lange

Refugee Resilience

The project was established in 2016 as a cross-research group collaborative project in HEMIL. The research groups involved are MCVenues and BLI. Later, the SIPA group also joined. The project is led by Associate Professor Ragnhild Hollekim.

Related to the project, a network of practitioners has been established with representatives from two municipalities (Bergen and Voss), the civil society sector (Red Cross, EMPO), other academic/research institutions such the University of Applied Sciences in Western Norway, South-East Norway University College and the Institute for Social Research. The international part of the network includes representatives from Stirling University (Scotland), Western Washington University (USA), University College London (UK) and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands)

In 2017 we conducted a pilot research project to establish how culture influences the ability of refugee children and youth to adapt to a new life in Norway. Building on the pilot study, we are now moving on to research young adult refugees’ transitions out of care and service frameworks into independent living. We have applied to the Norwegian Research Council for funding.

Youth and the future in times of crises; gendered life visions and vulnerabilities (2014-) . Researcher: Professor Haldis Haukanes

Performed among young Czechs of 17-18 years old living in a small North Bohemian town, the project explores  young people’s dreams and wishes  for the future  in terms of  work/career,  family plans and mobility. The project also aims at getting hold of the youth’s ideas about the future more in general; their dreams, but also their worries and anxieties, and the way that these relate to current European/global economic crises and other global instabilities such as environmental concerns. Theoretically, the project is founded in anthropological and sociological conceptualization of  time, future and the imagination,  and  feminist scholarship on gendered labour market participation, discursive ‘naturalization’ of gendered differences in work,  and the public-private binary. The project is a follow-up study of the project Growing up Global? A comparative study of belonging, gendered identities and imagined futures in the Czech Republic, Norway and Tunisia (Funded by the Meltzerfoundation and Friforsk, UiB, with Marit Tjomsland and Gry Heggli), exploring ways that globalisation influences the dreams and wishes of adolescents in the Western European border areas, and how such globalisation interacts with local ideals for a good and proper life and local gender norms.

The project is funded by Småforsk, UiB, and Meltzerfondet, UiB.

Transforming gender relations? Male involvement in maternal and infant health care in Ghana. PhD candidate Gloria Ampim

The ICPD 1994 recognised the importance of male involvement in sexual and reproductive health as a means to promote the health of men, women and children as well as address constraining gendered influences on health outcomes. Gender could influence women and children’s health through women’s decision-making power in the household, access to economic resources and quality healthcare, and heavy workload within and outside the household. Mid-way through working towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) five, which is concerned with improving maternal health, the international health community realised that the goal was impossible to achieve without involving men as “partners, fathers, husbands, brothers, policy makers, and community and religious leaders” because of their influencing roles in the household and society. Global strategies to involve men have included behaviour change communication campaigns, education and outreach in communities, home visits, and facility-based counselling.

Considering the global and national intensification of male involvement initiatives, this study explores the extent to which male involvement in maternal and infant health care could influence notions and practices of fatherhood as well as challenge dominant social structures in urban and rural contexts.