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:
  • Nanoro CHESS pilot preparations in top gear
  • Varsity swears-in former Navrongo head as VC
  • INDEPTH welcomes new site leader
1.   Nanoro CHESS pilot preparations in top gear
Software developers, INDEPTH team and the Nanoro CHESS team after a presentation on CHESS and the Health  Facility software.
A team from INDEPTH Secretariat in Ghana and a software developing firm were at the Nanoro Health and Demographic Surveillance System site (HDSS) in Burkina Faso from 14 -24 September 2016 to support  the ground team in preparations for piloting of  the Comprehensive Health and Epidemiological Surveillance System (CHESS). 

Narrating what transpired during their mission, Francis Ameni from the Secretariat said the site has completed enrolment of their HDSS population using OpenHDS and is currently enrolling the communities into a biometric registration system. The biometric indicators will provide a unique identifier for the HDSS data and the Health facility data for linkage. Two health facilities have been set up for the CHESS pilot and the health workers are being trained on the system though with some challenges which are being addressed. Lessons are being learnt as the team prepares to move to the second pilot site to deploy the system. Read more
2.  Varsity swears-in former Navrongo head as VC
INDEPTH Secretariat team at the ceremony.
The INDEPTH Network was well represented at the induction ceremony of Professor John Owusu  Gyapong  as the second Vice Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), in Ho, in the Volta Region of Ghana. Prof. Gyapong is the first Director of the Navrongo Health Research Centre, an INDEPTH member centre. A number of dignitaries including government ministers, religious leaders, traditional chiefs, politicians, heads of institutions and academics, attended the very colourful ceremony that also included cultural performances.
Dodowa Centre Leader Prof. Margaret Gyapong (right) with her daughters pose for a photograph after congratulating her spouse Prof. John Gyapong on his inauguration as VC.
Until his appointment, Prof. Gyapong was the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research Innovation and Development of the University of Ghana. The INDEPTH team included leaders of the three member centres in Ghana Dr Seth Owusu-Agyei (Kintampo), Dr. Abraham Oduro (Navrongo) and Dr. Margaret Gyapong (Dodowa). Dr. (Mrs) Gyapong is the wife of the new Vice Chancellor. The Secretariat was represented by the Executive Director Prof. Osman Sankoh and departmental Team Leaders David Mbulumi, Felicia Manu, Dr. Mamusu Kamanda, Margaret Bugase and Dr. Rita Baiden.  Read more  
1. INDEPTH welcomes new site leader
Kisumu Health and Demographic Surveillance System site (HDSS) in Kenya has a new leader. She is Dr. Jennifer Verani, who is taking over from Prof. Martinus Willem Borgdorff. Dr. Verani leads the Global Disease Detection, Epidemiology and Surveillance Program for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Kenya. She is a pediatrician, epidemiologist, and a Captain in the United States Public Health Service. She obtained her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, MPH in International Health from the Harvard School of Public Health, and undergraduate degree in International Development from Brown University. She completed her residency training at the Children’s Hospital of New York-Columbia, where she served in the community pediatrics track. 

The INDEPTH Executive Director has congratulated Dr. Verani for the new post and welcomed her to the INDEPTH family. In her response, she said: “Many thanks for the warm welcome. I am looking forward to working more closely with INDEPTH.” Read  Jennifer Verani’s full biography here.
Policy Engagement and Communications