The 5S Foundation

The Social Sciences for Severe Stigmatising Skin Conditions (5S) Foundation aims to end the neglect of three conditions (podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies) through bringing the social sciences to bear on these conditions in NIHR DAC-listed partners in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sudan. It is a £3.5 million 5-year collaborative research partnership programme which launched in Sept 2019 funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in the UK.

Social science research around NTDs is essential if key biomedical advances are to be successfully translated into elimination and control programmes, and their research will transform the health and wellbeing of people affected by these conditions by identifying interventions informed by social science perspectives at the level of the patient, the community and national and international policy.

The 5S Foundation Partners are Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), UK; Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK; Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), Ethiopia; Faculty of Geography and Environmental Science (FEGS), University of Khartoum, Sudan; and University of Rwanda, Rwanda.

The 5S Foundation Aims are:

• To examine the cultural logics and social and economic contexts of podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies;
• To understand the dynamics and dimensions of stigma;
• To investigate how all three diseases have been conceptualized at national and international policy levels;
• To evaluate existing interventions using social science perspectives;
• To refine the conceptual framework developed to guide the Foundation’s research;
• To develop a comprehensive intervention strategy for each disease;
• To support endemic-country training posts (PhD and postdoctoral) in a manner that will leave enduring capacity for social science research;
• To facilitate South-South and North-South sharing of best practice in research and advocacy applicable to a wide range of stigmatising conditions in low-resource settings.