ECLIPSE

ECLIPSE is a five-year, cross-cultural, applied health programme to improve the physical and mental health outcomes of people with CL and to empower CL-affected communities in Brazil, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka. The ECLIPSE team will be working towards a patient journey that is holistic, patient-centred and mapped on a biopsychosocial model of the disease. By doing so, ECLIPSE will be contributing to both the WHO’s ambition of ensuring accessible healthcare for all and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of improving health and well-being. five

This will be achieved through the following interlinked objectives:

To improve patient outcomes and empower communities

Two types of interventions will be co-developed, implemented and evaluated in each ECLIPSE country, aimed at promoting early diagnosis and treatment seeking behaviour, decreasing social isolation and stigma, empowering CL-endemic communities and improving treatment pathways. These interventions will consist of (1) community-based campaigns to raise awareness and reduce stigma of CL and (2) training packages for community health workers.

To influence health policy

Policy recommendations will be made to address any identified gaps in public health provision related to CL. Policy change will be facilitated by the establishment of an ECLIPSE Policy Network, with policy makers from across the three ECLIPSE countries. This network will promote knowledge mobilisation from researchers to policy makers and encourage knowledge exchange among policy makers through the sharing of ‘best practice’.

To foster cross-cultural learning

A transcontinental ECLIPSE consortium will be established for the duration of the ECLIPSE programme, aimed at promoting rapid cross-cultural knowledge exchange between the countries.

To acquire new knowledge on CL

ECLIPSE will generate a comprehensive and robust knowledge base of CL, through the publication of systematic and scoping reviews, qualitative and ethnographic papers, and implementation evaluation papers on the ECLIPSE interventions. A key contribution will also be the creation of a biopsychosocial model of CL in LMICs, which will be embedded in the syndemics theoretical framework to understand how this disease intersects with local economic, social and cultural factors.

To develop sustainable healthcare interventions

A busy network of affected individuals, community stakeholders, healthcare practitioners and policy makers will be developed to drive forward routine implementation of ECLIPSE interventions and strategies on a national and international level in CL-endemic regions. Policy makers will be firmly involved in ensuring the sustainability of the ECLIPSE interventions through the ECLIPSE Policy Network.

To promote capacity building across all academic tiers

A cohort of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) from across the partnership countries will be established. The academic capacity of ECRs will be enhanced through an interdisciplinary training and mentorship programme. Senior researchers will also receive career development training to strengthen their leadership skills and further develop their own research groups.