Ralf Weigel

The fate of a sick child is not only decided in the consulting room. In order to be effective, doctors and nursing staff need a functioning environment. In this context, we ask ourselves the following questions, among others:

• To what extent can guidelines for action be adhered to in peripheral, rural healthcare facilities?
• What is the supply situation with recommended medicines?
• What are the waiting times and what are the causes of delays?

We are just as interested in the quality of care for babies in rural Malawi as for adolescents in a large German city. But the situation at home, the child's nutritional status, the status of preventive measures and the parents' understanding of therapy also influence the course of treatment.

These overarching, more system-determined and socially determined factors are the subject of our research. We develop our topics from the questions of those affected on the ground and view them from the perspective of the child and its rights. In addition to research questions, the education and training of healthcare professionals is an important concern for us.

Many students and young doctors want to make a contribution to global child health. Together with our partners, we can help them prepare for such assignments. We support students and postgraduates who wish to continue their academic training in this field.

Current projects of our working group are:

• Umoyo wa Ana Athu (Our children's health), Malawi, duration 01/2022-12/2026 (Carsten Krüger, Megumi Nagase)
• Paediatricians for Malawi, duration 09/2021- 12/2025 (Ralf Weigel)
• Establishment of "Emergency, Triage, Assessment and Treatment plus" (ETAT+) in paediatric emergency care in the Alaotra Mangoro region, Madagascar, duration 07/2022 - 06/2025 (Martina Fier)
• Strengthening children's rights in health care in the district hospital of Dedza, Malawi, duration 03/2023 - 08/2025 (Martina Fier)
• People's Voice Survey (Ralf Weigel, Mariana Lopes Simoes)
   

• PD Dr Carsten Krüger, academic with postdoctoral lecturing qualification
• Martina Fier, Research Assistant
• Megumi Nagase, Research Assistant
• Kevin Rennspiess (Secretariat)
• Pablo Freudenthal (student assistant)
   

Specialist in paediatrics

To the CV

• Advanced modules of the MSc International Health (tropEd)

  - "Equity and child (health) rights"
  
  To registration

  - "Policy and Practice of Global Child Health " 
  
  To register

  - "Non-physician health care workers: leading change in global health." 
  
  To register
   

• Summer School "Introduction to Global Child Health" (UW/H) 
  
  To register
   
• Problem-oriented learning (semesters 1-4, model degree programme in medicine at the UW/H)
   

Global child health

• We work closely with the Gesellschaft für Tropenpädiatrie & Internationale Kindergesundheit (GTP) e.V., the German Alliance for Global Health Research, the Global Health Hub Germany, the clinic partnerships of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung.
• How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the health and well-being of children? 14 reports look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
• Member of the editorial group for the WHO Pocket Book of Primary Health Care for Children and Adolescents (2022) and co-editor of a related evidence synthesis published in a BMC Pediatrics supplement.
• Member of the Child Health Accountability Tracking (CHAT) working group since 2018

Aspirant for a WHO Collaborating Centre for Child and Adolescent Health