Newcastle University

The main purpose of RESCAP-MED is to enhance capacity for public health research on non-communicable diseases (NCD), and the social determinants of these diseases, in southern and eastern Mediterranean countries.  It was funded by the European Commission, in response to a call titled “Building sustainable research capacity for research for health and its social determinants in low and middle income countries”.  We intend to achieve this aim in two ways: 

1.   Strengthening skills in a number of disciplines relevant to improving public health, including reducing social inequalities in health. These disciplines are: 
                - Epidemiology
                - Health Economics
                - Environmental Health
                - Medical Anthropology
Cutting across these disciplines is a focus on health policy evaluation.

2.   Enhancing networking, cooperation, and coordination between researchers in the Mediterranean region, by 
                - Creating a Mediterranean regional network for NCD researchers
                - Creating a funded fellowship programme linked to this research network

RESCAP-MED brings together research institutes in six countries of the region – Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey – in addition to the World Health Organization’s East Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO-EMRO) in Cairo.

The project runs for three years until the end of 2014.