Our Mission
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Group on sub-Saharan Diabetes (GHRSSAD) was established in April 2018 to investigate improving outcomes in sub-Saharan African (SSA) diabetes through better diagnosis and treatment. The Global Health SSAD Research Group is a multi-disciplinary research group combining the internationally leading expertise in diagnosis and treatment of the University of Exeter Medical School’s Diabetes Clinical Research team lead by Professor Andrew Hattersley and Dr Angus Jones with leading partners at MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit and the University of Yaoundé I. Together, the group is attempting to answer fundamental questions for diabetes detection and treatment needed for effective patient care.
Over the next three years we will be investigating the characteristics of Type 1 diabetes in SSA and the social and clinical features associated with survival; understanding the best methods of diagnosing Type 2 diabetes particularly the relevance of commonly used oral glucose tolerance testing; establishing optimal methods of monitoring Type 2 diabetes in SSA; developing diabetes laboratory diagnostics that are reliable and sustainable in SSA; training the next generation of clinical researchers in SSA, and building crucial research capacity in Africa.