Friday Newsletter from the Secretariat
13th February 2015

Dear Centre Leaders,
Greetings from the INDEPTH Secretariat. We hope you have had a good week.

We have the following items for your attention this week:

1. INDEPTH gets new Policy Engagement and Communications Manager
 David Mbulumi has joined the INDEPTH Network as the new Policy Engagement and Communications Manager in February 2015.

He comes from the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) in Tanzania where he was the head of the Resource Centre. The IHI, an INDEPTH member centre, is one of Africa’s most eminent health research centres with a history of more than 50 years.

David has over 14 years experience in media and communications after working as a journalist, public relations practitioner and communications specialist. He was a senior editor with leading newspapers in Tanzania - The Guardian and The Citizen, and then served as public relations manager for CRDB Bank, the country’s largest bank from 2006 to 2009.

David then joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as head of communications for Tanzania Country Office until 2012 when he joined IHI.

He has also offered training services on journalism ethics and editorial independence for the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) and editorial consultancies for UN agencies (WFP, UNIDO, FAO, UNIC, UNV) since 2006.

He studied at the University of Dar es Salaam where he graduated in 1995 with a BSc majoring in Chemistry and Microbiology. He has Master’s degree in Chemistry (2000) from the same university.

David was also trained in journalism by the Commonwealth Press Union and Thompson Reuters Foundation in the UK, the World Bank Institute and NSJ Trust (with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung) in various centres in southern Africa.

Other programmes he has attended include Science Reporting at the University of Witwatersrand, Media Management at the University of Rhodes in Ghahamstown, both in South Africa; Knowledge Management by UNDP Learning Management System and Public Relations by UK’s Management Training Consultancy and the International Public Relations Organisation (IPRO).

In May 2000, David won one of the most prestigious awards in newspaper journalism in the Commonwealth, The Harry Brittain Fellowship.

2. Ministers hear INDEPTH's work and potentials for strengthening civil registration of vital statistics
The Third Conference of African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration has been held in Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire from 12th to 13th February, 2015.

 The Executive Director of the INDEPTH Network, Prof Osman Sankoh, represented the network at the conference where he presented INDEPTH's work and potentials for strengthening civil registration of vital statistics to more than 30 Ministers of the Interior and Health responsible for civil registration in their countries.

INDEPTH Network was a co-organiser of the event whose theme was “Promoting the use of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Support of Good Governance in Africa’. The conference was held under the auspices of African Union Commission ( AUC) with the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which functions as the Secretariat of the African Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (APAI-CRVS). The other member-organisations of the CRVS Regional Core Group namely, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO),United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Plan International, the Secretariat of the African Symposium on Statistical Development represented by Statistics South Africa also supported the Conference.

The overall objective of the conference was to mobilise member states to generate authentic civil registration records in realisation of human and civil rights, identity management and efficient service delivery, and production of vital statistics for planning and monitoring development in the context of good governance.

The conference also reviewed the progress made by the APAI-CRVS in the implementation of the regional Medium Term Plan and the resolutions of the previous two Conferences of Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration.

3. Paper on Verbal Autopsy published
A paper titled “Comparing verbal autopsy cause of death findings as determined by physician coding and probabilistic modelling: a public health analysis of 54,000 deaths in Africa and Asia” has been published in the Journal of Global Health.

Background to study
Coverage of civil registration and vital statistics varies globally, with most deaths in Africa and Asia remaining either unregistered or registered without cause of death. One important constraint has been a lack of fit–for purpose tools for registering deaths and assigning causes in situations where no doctor is involved. Verbal autopsy (interviewing care–givers and witnesses to deaths and interpreting their information into causes of death) is the only available solution. Automated interpretation of verbal autopsy data into cause of death information is essential for rapid, consistent and affordable processing.

The paper is available at http://www.jogh.org/documents/forthcoming/jogh-05-010402.pdf .
A copy is attached too.

Thank you.
Have a restful weekend!

Becky Kwei

Quick links
  • Career opportunity – Research Medical Specialist - read more
  • INDEPTH Resident Research Fellows (IRRF) Competition 2014 - read more
  • Missed our annual report 2013? Please download PDF here
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