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Innovative study funded by philanthropy to explore how floods affect maternal health and wellbeing

Posted on 18 October 2024

The study is one of 6 new projects to be philanthropically funded, and will investigate the impact of flood events on maternal health in two coastal cities: Accra and Kingston upon Hull.

Dr. Amanda Mason-Jones from the University of York and Dr. Samuel Adjorlolo from the University of Ghana have successfully secured funding from the Medical Research Foundation’s 2023 Impact of Climate Change on Health call. One of only 6 new projects to be funded through an extremely competitive process, their joint project will investigate the impact of flood events on maternal health in two coastal cities: Accra and Kingston upon Hull. This collaboration aims to understand community experience from different parts of the world that experience flooding.

Figure 1: Flood prone areas and types of flood in the Greater Accra Plains.

SOURCE: Kagblor C. A spatio-temporal study of urbanization and flooding in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) of Ghana. https://iess.ug.edu.gh/sites/iess.ug.edu.gh/

Figure 2: Mural from the Shorelines Project to engage communities 

with climate change topics

SOURCE: Rights Community Action. Every community has a story https://www.rightscommunityaction.co.uk

The first objective of this three-year research project is to explore the effects of flooding on maternal health and well-being. This will be achieved through a review of the published literature across the globe with teams working together across thousands of miles. The long-term goal is to identify both the risks to and strategies used to overcome these challenges using a range of methods including individual interviews, the analysis of administrative data and geospatial mapping. 

More specifically, the funding will support the University of York in the following areas:

About this new partnership, Amanda said: 

“Samuel and I are determined to ensure that our project can identify both challenges and community strengths to tackle flooding. Those who are pregnant are not often included in discussions about climate change and environmental degradation. We hope to change that. We are also committed to equitable working where the exchange of knowledge, skills, and understanding is mutual despite our different contexts.” 

The research would not have been possible without philanthropic support, and the University of York wants to thank the Medical Research Foundation for funding this innovative study that brings together diverse communities across the world. This study will leave a lasting legacy here at York by facilitating knowledge exchange on our UK campus, bringing together the Department of Health Sciences, where Amanda and Beth are based, and the York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI).

For more information on the research project:

Medical Research Foundation announcement: ‘From mental health to mosquitos’ 

If you would like to find out more about the partnership and equitable approaches, please contact Amanda: amanda.mason-jones@york.ac.uk.