Managed by the Center for Global Engagement, the President’s Global Impact Fund (PGIF) provides initial support for transformative initiatives that develop cross-campus and international collaborations and enhance UMB’s global engagement and reach.

Examples include the planning and development of interprofessional faculty and student collaborations and creating/enhancing of research collaborations with international partners.

Learn more about the second cohort’s projects below.

Point Prevalence Study in Acute Pediatric Critical Illness in Low-Resource Countries

Adrian Holloway, MD, Assistant Professor, Pediatrics (SOM)

Adnan Bhutta, MBBS, Professor, Pediatrics (SOM)

More than 90% of the global 6.4 million deaths in children under 14 years occur in resource-limited settings. Most of these deaths occur as a result of acute illnesses such as sepsis, pneumonia, or trauma, yet critical care services are not universally available.

A significant number of these lives could be saved by proven, simple critical care and supportive interventions despite challenging environments and fewer pediatric available critical care resources. However, without region-specific data that captures the burden of disease, outcomes, and resource utilization of pediatric populations in resource-limited settings, we cannot develop context-appropriate, evidence-based interventions, or appropriately allocate limited but available resources to hospitals.

We propose to undertake a prospective, observational, multicenter, multinational point prevalence study to measure the burden of acute pediatric critical illness in LMIC’s. Our proposed project is a crucial first step in setting future research and health delivery priorities for LMIC’s.

Kenya – REACH (Reaching, Engaging Adolescents and Young Adults for Care Continuum in Health) – Mental Health

Peter Memiah, DrPH, MSc, Associate Professor, Epidemiology (Ciheb)

Fernando Wagner, MPH, DS, Professor, School of Social Work

Collaborator: Dr. Lilian Otiso, LVCT Health

REACH (Reaching, Engaging Adolescents and Young Adults for Care Continuum in Health) - Mental Health is a study in Kenya through acollaboration between UMB’s School of Medicine and School of Social Work, LVCT Health, and the Kenya Ministry of Health.

The study will adapt adolescent-led participatory research complemented by a review of secondary data to: (1) identify key mental health risk factors among adolescents utilizing digital technology to solicit information and (2) conduct targeted qualitative interviews to identify barriers and facilitators of mental health services for adolescents.

REACH will provide needed evidence on the burden of adolescent mental health and inform the design of age-appropriate mental health services for adolescents. REACH will create a new collaborative community that will provide valuable growth opportunities to students (with four available global internships opportunities) and faculty, while contributing to develop innovative strategies to improve the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents.