Friday Newsletter
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Dear Centre Leaders,
In today's newsletter:
  • INDEPTH in The Lancet: The case for verbal autopsy in health systems strengthening
  • INDEPTH ED speaks to stakeholders in Sierra Leone
  • From 2016 INDEPTH AGM: Accidents, HIV top killers in Uganda eastern region – study
  • Kersa HDSS goes Digital
  • icddr,b joins the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Network
1. INDEPTH in The Lancet: The case for verbal autopsy in health systems strengthening
The quest for robust, affordable, consistent methods for filling global health information gaps is familiar.
But frequently the focus is on how the international community can extract population-based data, rather than how countries and communities can use robust methods to understand and act on their own health and disease burdens.

This week, researchers are convening in Vancouver, Canada, for the 4th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research organised by Health Systems Global. At the same time, the INDEPTH Network (the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health) is meeting in Kampala, Uganda. INDEPTH and Health Systems Global are distinctive groups committed to research for action. 
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2. INDEPTH ED speaks to stakeholders in Sierra Leone
The Executive Director of INDEPTH Network, Prof Osman Sankoh, was at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he made a presentation on “The knots, bolts, joys and challenges of Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) field sites” to diverse stakeholders on 23 November 2016.

Also, present were representatives of the Ministry of Healthy and INDEPTH’s partner, King’s College, London who is leading a grant proposal in which INDEPTH will be a consultant to help set up HDSS field sites in Sierra Leone. 
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News from Centres
1. From 2016 INDEPTH AGM:
Accidents, HIV top killers in Uganda eastern region - study
Dr. Dan Kajungu
Road accidents, HIV/Aids and maternal and newborn-related diseases top the list of causes for premature deaths among people in eastern Uganda, before reaching the country life expectancy of 63 years.

An analysis of causes of death in 2014 done by the Makerere University Centre for Health and Population Research (MUCHAP) in the Iganga Mayuge Health and Demographic Surveillance site (IMHDSS), shows that traffic road accidents and HIV/Aids contribute 19 and 16.5 per cent of the years of life lost (YLL) due to premature death respectively, among people in the active age bracket of 29 and 49.
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2. Kersa HDSS goes Digital
Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Kersa HDSS), Ethiopia, organised a training workshop for its personnel on automated data gathering, entry and management procedures. 

The training was organised in light of the new advancement to change from the Household Registration System 2 (HRS2) which the site was using to the new Open Health Demographic Surveillance (Open HDS). Kersa, as one of the HDSS sites in Ethiopia, is the first to apply the data collection mechanism using mobile devices.  
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3. icddr,b joins the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Network
icddr,b has joined the Emory Global Health Institute’s Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Network which established three more sites in Africa and Asia including one in Baliakandi, Bangladesh.

At its field sites across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the CHAMP network uses a series of scientific processes to collect, analyse and interpret data that help determine causes of death for children under five years old.
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Policy Engagement and Communications