Photo credit: Carey Marks

Photo credit: Carey Marks

Honorary Professor Rupert Jones has helped to set up a new £2 million project to address chronic lung disease in the developing world through pulmonary rehabilitation (PR).

The project, named RECHARGE, is led by University Hospitals Leicester and the University of Leicester, and will focus on developing, testing and delivering suitable PR programmes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The aim of the programme is to build on existing expertise within the UK and the wider global health community to support outstanding research that addresses health issues affecting the poorest and most vulnerable people in LMICs.

RECHARGE has the backing of The British Thoracic Society, which has agreed for its online and face-to-face training programmes to be used as a framework to develop an education package for staff in LMICs.

The research team is supported by the Centre for Exercise and Rehabilitation Science, a world leading centre in cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, which is part of the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre.

Partner organisations involved in the project are:
  • University College London
  • International Primary Care Respiratory Group
  • Chest Research Foundation Pune, India
  • University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
  • National Centre of Cardiology and Internal Medicine, Kyrgyzstan
  • The Makerere Institute, Kampala, Uganda
Collaborator organisations include:
  • Bangladesh Primary Care Respiratory Society 
  • University of Edinburgh
  • Royal College of Physicians
  • British Thoracic Society
Funder
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Programme