Strengthening Community Engagement Infrastructure in Thailand and Cambodia

Our goal is to strengthen the community engagement infrastructure at three sites within the Thailand Asia and Africa Programme, otherwise known as the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU). All three sites have large research programmes that include projects on infectious diseases.

In Thailand, including the border regions, and in Cambodia, the spread of artemisinin and partner drug-resistant malaria is a global health concern.

They key deliverable is a sustainable platform for relationship building and understanding of context and culture of the communities served by the MORU- Siem Pang Health Research Centre (Siem Pang, Cambodia), the Chiangrai Clinical Research Unit (CCRU, Chiangrai, Thailand), and the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU, Mae Sot, Thailand).

At its core will be three community advisory boards (CABs): a newly established hilltribe CAB at CCRU; a newly established youth wing of the Tak Province Community Ethics Advisory Board at SMRU; and continuation of the young persons’ advisory board at MORU-Siem Pang, set up as pilot in 2021.

Through engagement with these CABs we will increase our understanding of the health concerns communities have, the sources of infectious disease, the factors that drive disease escalation and how community knowledge and resources can help achieve shared health goals.