Making a Difference Cover

Making a Difference

We encourage the widest possible use of our research findings and expertise. These examples highlight how our global health research transforms lives. Arising from research led by individual groups or global partnerships, these reports spotlight impactful projects by both current and recently completed programmes.

Read all of the Making a Difference stories, videos and podcasts.

Video image of two women hugging at a protest

Right to a Better World: Violence Against Women

In 'Right to a Better World: Violence against Women', experts share challenges they have faced, and tactics they have used to help build a world in which women and girls are free from all forms of violence and discrimination.

A young woman holding up an injection of the malaria vaccine and a small child looking on

The Big Shot - Oxford, Africa and the R21 malaria vaccine

"What we desperately need are new tools to improve malaria control, and this is the first vaccine that can be deployed at scale, that will be affordable, and can be used widely in Africa on a scale of hundreds of millions of doses each year" - Professor Adrian Hill

Water matters: for girls, for education, for future prosperity

Water is vital – not just for drinking and health, but for life chances and education. Without water, how can you learn? And yet more than half a billion children around the world do not have access to basic water supplies in schools.

Meet our Researchers

Researchers from our Nuffield Department of Medicine's Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health talk about their research ranging from health policy and systems to clinical research in LMICs, science and society, ethics and much more!

COVID-19: How are social sciences making a difference?

Oxford’s social scientists responded rapidly as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded, working with partners in policymaking, industry, and communities around the world to find solutions to some of the greatest challenges the world has ever seen.

How does a pandemic end?

Masks, social distancing, lockdowns. We’ve become intimately familiar with numerous COVID-19 control measures over the past two years. In this episode, we chat to Erica Charters, Professor of the Global History of Medicine at the University of Oxford and Principal Investigator of the ‘How Epidemics End’ interdisciplinary project.

A video capture depicting the start of vaccine production

Vaccines: From lab to licensing

The standard for testing and monitoring of vaccines is higher than it is for most other medicines because they are one of the few medical treatments given to healthy people - mainly healthy children. This means that the level of acceptable risk is much lower than it might be in some other treatments. It can take many years for a vaccine to pass through all the stages described in the animation. In the case of the MenB vaccine, for example, it took 15 years from the first publication of the genome (the complete set of genetic information in an organism) to the vaccine being licensed for use.

Health Rights in a Pandemic: A Case Study of Universal Health Care in Kenya

Prior to the pandemic, Kenya piloted universal health care. This documentary explores Kenya’s journey towards universal health care in before and during the pandemic, as well as the next steps in achieving the right to health in a post-COVID world.

Science with Sanjula: Dr Mehrunisha Suleman

Tackling racism in healthcare: Dr Mehrunisha Suleman talks about why tackling racism and inequalities in health and healthcare is so important, drawing on her research and experiences.

GCHU Seminar: What Creates Healthy Cities?

Our speakers discuss the 'Commission on Creating Healthy Cities' report with Lord Best, Chair of the Commission on Creating Healthy Cities; Julia Thrift, Director, Healthier Place-Making, Town and Country Planning Association; Dr Stephanie Tierney, Departmental Lecturer, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Services; and Councillor Susan Brown, Leader, Oxford City Council.