International
02.11.2021

Combatting Neglected Tropical Diseases – Simulation Game on Global Health

A project in cooperation with the German Alliance for Global Health Research GLOHRA

CRISP is proud to announce that we were invited to attend the annual World Health Summit 2021 in recognition of our latest simulation game on global health. The summit was held in Berlin from October 24 – 26 and featured 50 sessions with 300 speakers and over 6000 participants. 

The conference is among the most prominent places to discuss issues of health in a cross-sectoral and holistic manner. 

Our team attended four sessions on development cooperation and the nexus between health systems of the Global North and disease control in the Global South. The discussants made it clear that a greater dialogue among policy makers, researchers, health personnel and affected populations worldwide is needed to combat not only pandemics but also diseases that still affect billions of lives, even if they are hardly known in the West. 

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) harm, incapacitate, and kill 1,7 billion people on this planet. These diseases are largely cosidered neglected, because they are less prevalent in the Global North, less recognized by global health research and rarely covered by the news media cycle of high-income countries. But they are tremendously harmful for individuals, societies, and economies. CRISP focuses on facilitating cross-sectoral dialogue on complex issues with bearing local contexts in mind. Therefore, the German Alliance for Global Health Research GLOHRA has asked us to develop an interdisciplinary simulation game on NTDs. The tool will be used to help young PhD academics to reflect on the myriad of issues associated with combatting NTDs. 

We will use the simulation game to shed light on the interplay of social, technical, medical, psychological, economic, and political factors in the fight against NTDs. Why are some mass drug administration campaigns falling short of their goals? Which local needs and specificities are hindering the effective fight against some of these illnesses? How can global health research agendas adequately address such needs and avoid doing harm? How to de-colonize global health? 

Interdisciplinary health research in Germany is a recent field and still in its development. Actors and funding are fragmented, and lessons learned are not adequately shared. This has direct impacts on people’s lives in Germany and the world. Non-formal methods such as simulation gaming can help remedy this situation by aiding collective agenda-setting, reflection, and creative problem-solving approaches. We at CRISP are happy to provide a platform to aid these exciting developments. The simulation game will be implemented on the 26 of November. Please reach out to us or GLOHRA for details on our cooperation.