Research User Group newsletter 2019 RUG newsletter FINAL version 30.10.19 | Page 15

15 PPIE IN SRI LANKA
PATIENT INVOLVEMENT GOES GLOBAL
PPIE team members Steven
Blackburn and Adele
Higginbottom were invited to
return to Sri Lanka in February,
following on from their previous
visit in 2018. Along with Jim
Elliot, from the UK Health
Research Authority, they
presented workshops in
Colombo around improving the
ethical design of research and
discussed sustaining meaningful
PPIE.
discussing how health
promotion has been used to
address issues affecting the
wellbeing of adults and
children. Following a visit to
one of the villages, Adele
commented: "The university
students translated for us - we
felt very privileged to hear all
of the wonderful work that the
community had achieved,
including the education for all
of the children in the village
and reducing malnutrition in
They also spent a day in the Sri
young children. We were made
Lankan countryside in an area
to feel so welcome by
called Rajarata, staying within
everyone. We entered one of
the beautiful grounds of Rajarata the houses, met family
University where they attended a members and saw a room that
community led workshop on
was full of all of the research
health promotion at the
information that they had
University. During this meeting a been involved with. They had
group of people from a rural
written all of the impact on
village spoke about the PPIE they empty flour bags.
had done,
Being involved in research
had completely changed the
lives of this community. This
was a shared learning
experience for everyone
involved and we both look
forward to continuing this
work in the future."