Guyana 2015 - Expedition application process

A team of WMS medics are applying for funding for a scientific expedition to Guyana. Our aim is to find out about the way in which the altering diet in Guyana is affecting the Amerindian population's health.

Specifically our team is investigating whether the the Guyanese Amerindian people who have moved from the Interior (Guyana’s large jungle region) to the coastal cities are at greater health risk than Amerindians who still reside in the interior, and compared to non-Amerindian Guyanese. This expedition will take place from the 15th of July 2015 to the 28th of August 2015, along the Rewa river, near Annai, North Rupununi, Region 9, Guyana.

The team will consist of 8 science, geographical and medical students from the University of Aberdeen at varying stages of their academic careers, as well as 3 medical students from the University of Guyana. The expedition will comprise of two main projects: Project one will be looking at the physiological impact of western diet and lifestyle on Amerindian health, while Project two will be assessing cultural, social and spatial factors that influence attitudes and use of healthcare.

Our team from Aberdeen will be working with a partner team of students from the University of Guyana in Georgetown, who will conduct the city based research and will take two groups of 200 (100M, 100F), one Amerindian group and one non-Amerindian Guyanese group. This research will take place over a series of months and will be completed by the time the Aberdeen team arrives. As there is very little research activity by the University of Guyana, and this is the first medical research the university will be a part of, we are heavily involved in the conduct of the experiments by the Guyana student team. An important aspect of this trip is to involve Guyanese students, a large proportion of professionals emigrate once qualified leaving Guyana without its most skilled workers.

At the moment we are writing the applications for various funding bodies and are hoping that our efforts will be successful. So it is all hands on deck to get everything together in time! This would be an incredible expedition, both from an academic perspective and as an opportunity to visit an incredible environment with the most pristine rainforest in the world.