Friday Newsletter
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Dear Centre Leaders,
We hope you have had a good week.
We have the following items for your attention:
  • New collaboration between INDEPTH and University of Southampton
  • INDEPTH, Chatham House organise data sharing meeting in Accra
  • Kampala hosts key meeting on maternal and newborn health
  • "Maternal and newborn health should draw lessons from the ambition of the HIV response"
  • Prof. Manuel Elkin Patarroyo Murillo visits KHRC
  • Does insecticide resistance contribute to heterogeneities in malaria transmission in The Gambia?
1. New collaboration between INDEPTH and  University of Southampton
INDEPTH Network and the University of Southampton Global Health Research Institute (GHRI) will sign an MoU on a collaboration in research projects and capacity strengthening through joint proposal development.

The new development comes after a symposium held at the Southampton University where the Executive Director of the INDEPTH Network, Prof Osman Sankoh, made a presentation on 'HDSSs in Global Health Research'.

The University of Southampton Global Health research adopts a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to address both current and emerging transnational issues in population health and well-being.
 
2. INDEPTH, Chatham House organise data sharing meeting in Accra
Health experts who met in Accra pose for a group photo
Chatham House, UK, in collaboration with the INDEPTH Secretariat brought together leading health experts from Africa to Accra from 16-17 June 2016 to discuss a data sharing initiative: "Strengthening Data Sharing for Public Health."

More than 20 participants shared experiences and suggested practical ways to deal with barriers to data sharing. 

The Chatham House, through its Centre on Global Health Security has involved INDEPTH in the initiative that engages experts from around the world to develop guidance on how to create the right environment and achieve good practice for sharing public health surveillance data across national borders.
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3.  Kampala hosts key meeting on maternal and newborn health
Participants of Kampala Maternal and Newborn Health workshop
The Maternal and Newborn Working Group (MNWG) of the INDEPTH Network met this week from June 15-16, 2016 in Kampala, Uganda, to discuss the measurement agenda for the UN Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP).

The meeting was aimed at discussing and developing methods for improving how to measure correctly rates of mortality and other outcomes including pregnancy rates, maternal, neonatal and stillbirth rates in surveys such as Demographic Surveillance Surveys (DHS), Multi Indicator Surveys (MICS), and HDSS centres. 
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4.    "Maternal and newborn health should draw lessons from the ambition of the HIV response"
If the unfinished business for women and children's health during the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era is to make headway in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) period, stakeholders need to emulate the ambition employed by their counterparts in the HIV response.

That argument was made by Prof Joy Lawn of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) on June 15 at the start of the INDEPTH Network's Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) metrics design workshop in Kampala. 
The theme of the three day meet is "Improving Household Survey Modules for Measuring Pregnancy Outcomes." 
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News from our member centres
1.  Prof. Manuel Elkin Patarroyo Murillo visits KHRC
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Prof. Manuel Elkin Patarroyo Murillo, a renowned Colombian scientist (pathologist and immunologist) paid a courtesy visit to Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC) together with H. E. Mrs. Claudia Quintero Torbay (Colombian Ambassador to Ghana) accompanied by her husband. As part of the visit, Prof. Patarroyo presented an insightful lecture on his work (spanning 35 years) to about 30 scientists of KHRC.
The Kintampo Health Research Centre is an INDEPTH member centre in Ghana.
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2.  Does insecticide resistance contribute to heterogeneities in malaria transmission in The Gambia?
Field worker and Kevin Collecting larvae from natural habitat (A), artificial habitat (B) and susceptibility tube test in progress
Results from our recent study showed that variation in vector species and insecticide resistance in The Gambia is associated with malaria endemicity; with a notably higher prevalence of infection and insecticide resistance in the east of the country.
The MRC Unit The Gambia (Farafenni HDSS) is an INDEPTH member centre in the Gambia.
 Read more
Policy Engagement and Communications