Background: : A robust Primary Health care (PHC) system carries immense potential to improve health outcomes, especially in resource constraint settings. However, for PHC systems to live up to their leadership role we need sufficiently robust data to understand the strengths, target the weaknesses, understand the root causes, and strategic redirections of resources. Against this backdrop, in 2016, Ariadne Labs – in collaboration with the Primary Health care Performance Initiative (PHCPI) and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (The Alliance) – initiated work funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to inform the development of a Primary Health Care Measurement and Implementation Research Consortium or now known as Primary Health Care Research Consortium (PHCRC). Aim: The mission of the PHCRC is to develop and maintain a global PHC research network led by organizations based in LMICs. To conduct prioritized and policy-relevant research to support the country and global

Background An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is an enlarged area in the lower part of the major vessel that supplies blood to the body. Most AAAs are detected when they are small, and affected patients are monitored by regular repeat imaging until their aneurysm expands to a size where surgical repair is required. The only current treatment is high-risk surgery. Numerous trials have been conducted in the last 20 years to try to identify an effective medical therapy for AAA, but all published trials to date have been unsuccessful. There is substantial epidemiological and pre-clinical evidence to suggest that a widely used, safe and low-cost drug called metformin may prevent serious AAA-related events such as ruptures, death or need for surgery, however a large-scale randomised control trial (RCT) is needed to test any such benefit reliably.  Aims The primary aim of the Metformin Aneurysm Trial (MAT) is to assess whether metformin prevents the need for AAA repair by surgery, or death from A

Improving communication pathways between housing, health and social services working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal families in South East and South West SydneyBackgroundSafe and secure housing is a basic human right and a social and cultural determinant of health and wellbeing. Housing conditions, housing security and surrounding home environments all impact on people’s health and wellbeing.The Healthy Housing study arose from conversations at a Community Health Forum at La Perouse, Sydney. Aboriginal staff from a social service, Barnardos, highlighted an urgent need to address the poor housing conditions experienced by their clients living in social housing in urban Sydney and described frustration and trauma experienced navigating the social housing system. Barnardos staff expressed the impact housing has on health and wellbeing, such as asthma and other respiratory illnesses, and child injury. The community paediatrician, Aboriginal health workers and other health and soci

Background: The SMARThealth program has been shown to be effective in improving the use of cardiovascular disease (CVD) preventive drugs, and in lowering blood pressure levels among people at high CVD risk in pilot studies. The Malang District Health Authority has committed to fund the implementation of this program across 100 villages to provide proof-ofconcept for sustainable scale-up, in partnership with a consortium of researchers. Aims: To facilitate the process of SMARThealth scale-up in Malang District, East Java, Indonesia. To evaluate the effectiveness and costs of scale-up in the local context. To evaluate the scale-up process and thereby contribute to knowledge around expanding similar innovations globally. Methods: Phase I will comprise a nine- to 12-month development period using implementation science methods to institutionalise critical components of the intervention. Phase II will involve a six-month test of scale-up in 20 villages to allow rapid end-user dr

Background: The burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is unacceptably high in the Pacific Island region. Increasing rates of NCDs are linked with the transition from traditional diets, based on locally-grown foods, to diets high in salt, fat and sugar from processed packaged foods. There is a need to ensure food policies are implemented successfully in order to improve the food environment and decrease the NCD burden in Pacific Island countries. Aims:  The overall goal of this five-year project is to take a comprehensive, empirical approach to understanding and strengthening the policy making process, with an emphasis on implementing, at scale, best possible policy to improve the food environment in the Pacific. The project will identify which interventions are the most feasible in the Pacific, and what factors lead to effective implementation.  Methods: The Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance (REAIM) framework, together with a quasi-