| Dear Centre Leaders,
Greetings from the INDEPTH Secretariat. We hope you have had a good week.
We have the following items for your attention:
1. INDEPTH Prize for Excellent Research in Population and Health based on HDSS
The INDEPTH Prize for Excellent Research in Population and Health based on Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) was established by the Board of Trustees of the INDEPTH Network in March 2002 with an initial prize fund of $10000 donated to INDEPTH by Prof. Peter Aaby, Leader of the Bandim HDSS in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. Since 2004 when the initial prize money got exhausted, INDEPTH has used funds from its core support grants to continue awarding the prize annually at its scientific conferences until 2013.
Prize amount US$3,000 will be awarded at the INDEPTH Scientific Conference (ISC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November 2015.
The Secretariat is calling for recent HDSS-based papers from INDEPTH members that were published (or accepted for publication) between October 2013 and September 2015.
Any INDEPTH member centre may nominate an eligible work. The nominated paper should be sent to the Secretariat with a short statement giving the reasons for nomination.
Please submit your nominations to Dr. Mamusu Kamanda (mamusu.kamanda@indepth-network.org). Only one submission per centre will be acceptable!
Please see attached for details.
2. Ghana Health Service holds stakeholders meeting on implementation research
Group photograph of participants at the meeting
INDEPTH Executive Director, Prof Osman Sankoh, and Policy Engagement and Communications Manager, David Mbulumi, were among stakeholders who attended a High Level National Stakeholders' meeting on Implementation Research and the National Health Research Agenda organised by Research and Development Division (RDD) of Ghana Health Service.
The meeting was held in Accra on Tuesday.
As part of its mandate to build research capacity at all levels of the health sector and to set health priorities in Ghana, the RDD in the past year conducted some key activities that included training of regional teams to interrogate their routine data; training of programme teams in Implementation research and engaging programme managers and Ghana Health Service divisional heads on setting a research agenda to guide the conduct of research in the country.
The Division, through a one-day high level stakeholder consultation, showcased some of the outputs of these activities and to consult with other Research Institutions outside the Ghana Health Service, Development Partners, and Schools of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Divisional Directors, Deputy Directors and Regional Directors of GHS among others in the finalisation of the proposed Research Agenda for the health sector.
Several presentations were made including one titled "Research Capacity Strengthening Initiatives in the Ghana Health Service" by Dr Margaret Gyapong, the Director of Dodowa Health Research Centre, an INDEPTH member.
3. INDEPTH Poem
INDEPTH Executive Director, Prof Osman Sankoh, reading a poem dedicated to INDEPTH at the launch of the African Research Excellence Fund (AREF) in London on 17 September 2015.
The AREF aims to support the best people from Sub-Saharan Africa to do the best health research for Africa in Africa.
This will be achieved by offering competitive awards for Sub-Saharan Africans to enhance their research skills and by developing an AREF Academy to deliver the highest quality training to Africans in Africa.
4. ISC/AGM 2015 Registration
All sites/centres that have not registered for the ISC 2015 are encouraged to do so.
The ISC will take place from 11 - 13, November 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Arrival: 10 November 2015, Departure : 14 November 2015
Annual General Meeting: 14 November 2015 for Centre Leaders (Departure : 15 November 2015)
The registration link is http://indepth-network.org/isc2015.php
Please note that it is a membership requirement to attend the AGM in Addis Ababa.
Programme: Please see the draft programme of the ISC/AGM 2015 attached and kindly circulate. Note that we have scheduled special sessions for editors of world’s leading health and scientific journals.You can also download here. |
In their study, a team of researchers in a paper lead-authored by Mr Anthony Kwarteng of Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC) revealed that there were widespread inappropriate treatment with ACT although the majority of patients presenting with malaria received treatment according to the national malaria guidelines. Thus compliance with the guidelines on ACT use was low, five years post-ACT policy change.
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The Disease Control and Elimination Theme of MRC Unit, The Gambia has been awarded a major grant, building on its strong portfolio of Malaria Research. The study, “Reactive household-based self-administered treatment against residual malaria transmission”: a cluster randomised trial (RHOST), was awarded to Professor Umberto D’Alessandro in July 2015, from the Joint Global Health Trials Scheme which is jointly funded by the MRC, Department for International Development (DFID) and the Wellcome Trust. The grant is worth £1.6 million over a duration of 40 months.