SOLACE aims to transcend disciplinary and academic boundaries working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically addressing ‘health and well-being for all’ by tackling issues of recruitment, development, training and retention of health workers managing the growing burden of Non-Communicable Diseases. The inclusion of a wide range of scholarly expertise extends SOLACE beyond the disciplinary boundaries of medicine and beyond the edges of academia by co-producing knowledge with community partners.

The three interlinked overall aims of SOLACE are:

a) to establish a sustainable, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural partnership which will identify specific public health challenges and solutions faced by those providing primary healthcare and those at the receiving end in rural, remote and underserved areas;

b) to co-produce knowledge and raise awareness in multiple formats (artistic, educational, scientific) around the growing burden of common Non-Communicable Diseases, specifically musculoskeletal disorders and mental health problems;

c) to develop in collaboration with community stakeholders bottom-up, innovative clinical and educational interventions to improve the lives of those with common Non-Communicable Diseases

The SOLACE team on a fieldwork trip in the Province of Northern Samar (September 2017)