About Us

Madoda Mkhobeni

Overview of the GEMMS Research Group.

Working with diverse migrant groups in precarious situations in India, Myanmar, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, we aim to create conceptual and methodological tools and actions to disrupt the damaging cycle of gendered violence and poor mental health for migrant and mobile populations.

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The link between gendered violence and poor mental and psychosocial health is widely acknowledged, yet poorly understood. Interventions that address these global health challenges generally focus on either gendered violence or mental health and ignore the damaging cycle of gendered violence reinforcing poor mental health and vice versa. In addition, these interventions are limited in their reach as they often address the needs of sedentary populations, ignoring the needs and realities of migrant and mobile groups including people displaced due to conflict and disaster and the rural poor moving in search of better livelihood opportunities. These situations are associated with chronic precarity in work and living conditions, barriers to healthcare access, and an increased exposure to violence and burden of ill-health. Such precarity creates different risks, responses, and resilience to gendered violence and poor mental health. Appropriate and effective interventions require better understanding of the intersecting risks of gendered violence and poor mental health, factors determining these risks, and how they change over time and place.


The GEMMS research group brings together academics and practitioners with relevant expertise and experience in six institutions across four countries. We will develop an evidence-informed intervention to provide on-going support to migrants in precarious situations in SA and India, and border spaces in Myanmar and Zimbabwe. The research group will establish a programme of work to generate new knowledge, improved understandings, and co-designed training and public health solutions. We will apply theoretical and empirical insights to support efforts to improve the lived realities of migrants in precarious situations through participation of affected populations in research. Ultimately, our vision is to create the necessary tools, actions, and an intervention pathway to disrupt the damaging cycle of gendered violence and poor mental health in order to improve the wellbeing of migrants in precarious situations, including responsive interventions that can address migrants’ changing needs over time and in different contexts.

The link between gendered violence and poor mental and psychosocial health is widely acknowledged, yet poorly understood. Interventions that address these global health challenges generally focus on either gendered violence or mental health and ignore the damaging cycle of gendered violence reinforcing poor mental health and vice versa. In addition, these interventions are limited in their reach as they often address the needs of sedentary populations, ignoring the needs and realities of migrant and mobile groups including people displaced due to conflict and disaster and the rural poor moving in search of better livelihood opportunities. These situations are associated with chronic precarity in work and living conditions, barriers to healthcare access, and an increased exposure to violence and burden of ill-health. Such precarity creates different risks, responses, and resilience to gendered violence and poor mental health. Appropriate and effective interventions require better understanding of the intersecting risks of gendered violence and poor mental health, factors determining these risks, and how they change over time and place.


The GEMMS research group brings together academics and practitioners with relevant expertise and experience in six institutions across four countries. We will develop an evidence-informed intervention to provide on-going support to migrants in precarious situations in SA and India, and border spaces in Myanmar and Zimbabwe. The research group will establish a programme of work to generate new knowledge, improved understandings, and co-designed training and public health solutions. We will apply theoretical and empirical insights to support efforts to improve the lived realities of migrants in precarious situations through participation of affected populations in research. Ultimately, our vision is to create the necessary tools, actions, and an intervention pathway to disrupt the damaging cycle of gendered violence and poor mental health in order to improve the wellbeing of migrants in precarious situations, including responsive interventions that can address migrants’ changing needs over time and in different contexts.

Madoda Mkhobeni
with thanks to our

Funders

 

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research.

 

We do this by:

  • Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care;
  • Investing in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services;
  • Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities,improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;
  • Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;
  • Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;
  • Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low and middle income countries.

NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. 

Its work in low and middle income countries (LMICs) is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government.

📷 Jo Vearey