Dear Centre Leaders,
Greetings from the INDEPTH Secretariat. We hope you have had a good week.
We have four items for your attention this week:
1. Impact of INDEPTH membership on your organisation
A few weeks back we asked you to say a few words in response to the question:
Looking back, what has been the main impact of your INDEPTH membership on your Centre?
We are grateful to the following 21 centres who responded. This is the last time we are sending this out. We will be including your quotes and pictures in a document tentatively entitled “The value added by INDEPTH to its member centres”.
Dodowa, Ghana; West Kiang, The Gambia; Mbita, Kenya; Ouagadougu, Burkina Faso; Bandafassi, Mlomp, & Niakhar, Senegal; Nahuche, Nigeria; Kilifi, Kenya; Navrongo, Ghana; Manhica, Mozambique; Kilite Awlaelo, Ethiopia; Nanoro, Burkina Faso; Kersa, Ethiopia; Karonga, Malawi; Nairobi, Kenya; Kintampo, Ghana; Africa Centre, South Africa; Gilgel Gibe, Ethiopia; Chililab, Vietnam; Vadu, India; Wosera, PiH, Papua New Guinea; and Butajira, Ethiopia
A sample of the responses include:
- Capacity building in longitudinal data analysis and paper writing
- We have successfully identified households in my HDSS. We have implemented a clinic automotive system that links our clinic and research work with the HDSS.
- Training workshops on HDSS profile writing, Cause of Death mortality analysis.
- Motivation to do analysis of data at a deeper level.
- Training workshops facilitated interaction with people from different countries and backgrounds which will hopefully lead to long lasting inter-HDSS relationships.
- Help in designing questionnaires (handbook)
- Help in moving to INTERVA
- INDEPTH activities were very helpful for mortality and fertility analysis, and for InterVA implementation
- We have moved our cause of death analysis forward through collaboration with Peter Byass
- Access to research grants
- Scholarship, masters for Charfudin Sacoor
- In the context of INESS, change of the systems for data collection from paper to electronic and introduction of new technologies of PDA’s, tablets and other devices
- Introduction of verbal autopsies, implementation of InterVA (usage of algorithms for the attribution of diagnosis) in the Manhiça HDSS.
- INDEPTH helps us in capacity building extensively. In addition, through INDEPTH we have got a lot of opportunity to present our work in international forums. We have taken some corrective measures in our data base and data collection system
- Standardization of tools and procedures
- Accessing important professionals
- Support of trainers on HRS-2
- The engagement of our scientists to collaborate on multisite analyses
- The opportunity to participate in the iShare initiative
- Capacity building for our staff; Access to seed grants for scientific research, visibility of our HDSS through INDEPTH initiatives
- Increased scientific outputs through working group work
- Infrastructural development and cross site collaboration
- Opportunities to network with other Centres with similar research agendas and share experiences and consider joint research.
- Capacity building and experience sharing. As a new centre, we got capacity building supports so that we can function with better capacity that impacted our performance.
- Motivation in sharing data
- Cross site research
- We received recognition as a HDSS in India only the second one in the country
- INDEPTH membership has given our centre, an international exposure to the scientific community that deals with HDSS and health
- Due to our association with INDEPTH, we could initiate some new portfolio for the site including the Ageing and Adult Health and NCD.
- Our capacity of conducting longitudinal studies has increased due to our association with INDEPTH
- Our association with INDEPTH has also given us opportunity to venture into novel ideas and take these further successfully to make it brand names for INDEPTH for example the iSHARE and INDEPTHStats.
- Our membership has a number of positive impacts to our site. To mention some, encouragement to continue with what we are doing as part of the global scientific community.
- Standardization of data to be usable by the network and striving towards generating high quality data. Of course, capacity building is another benefit.
2. Policy Engagement and Research Communications Specialist
INDEPTH Network is seeking an experienced and highly motivated Policy Engagement and Research Communications Specialist to head the Policy Engagement and Communications Section of the Secretariat in Accra.
Click for details
(Policy Engagement and Research Communications Specialist )
3. INDEPTH Small Grants Programme
Don’t miss this opportunity to apply for small grants from INDEPTH.
The overall goal of this INDEPTH Small Grants programme is to support research and research capacity strengthening among INDEPTH member centres in low- and middle-income countries. We fund collaborative projects among three or more INDEPTH member centres.
Please see attached for details.
4. Meet our graduates from the INDEPTH-funded MSc Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Today’s personality for the short profile is Francis Yeji of Navrongo HDSS, Ghana.
This series of short profiles is to introduce the more than 30 HDSS scientists who have been funded by INDEPTH to pursue the MSc in Population-based Field Epidemiology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Scholarships for this programme have been graciously provided by Sida, Rockefeller Foundation and the Gates Foundation.
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More information on the INDEPTH Scientific Development and Leadership Programme can be obtained by clicking on the following link: Leadership Programme.
Full name: Francis Yeji
Position before the programme: : Research Officer, Navrongo HDSS, Ghana
Current Position : Senior Research Officer, Navrongo HDSS, Ghana
NHRC Research Coordinator (EMBRACE
Implementation Research in Ghana)
Student years at Wits University: 2008 - 2009
Host HDSS centre for the field attachment: Africa Centre for Health and Population Study, South Africa
Francis views his student years at Wits as a unique and exciting journey both academically and socially.
“It equipped me with extensive knowledge, leadership and practical skills in research design (quantitative and qualitative), implementation, analysis, paper writing and conference presentation which are of tremendous value in my current job as a researcher” he says.
Additionally, Francis said the programme built his capacity in scientific paper review and since completion he has reviewed several scientific papers for international Journals.
He said, the choice of Wits by INDEPTH to host the MSc programme was excellent and fantastic; as Wits provided him with the right environment to study and interact with people from different countries and academic disciplines.
Francis had his internship at the Africa Centre for Health and Population Study in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa where he carried out his research on the topic “Are social support and HIV coping strategies associated with lower depression in adults on antiretroviral treatment? Evidence from rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa” which was published in July 2014
“Since, graduating in 2009, I have effectively utilised the skills I acquired through the programme in successfully leading and coordinating the implementation of a number of projects at NHRC including MOTECH (Mobile Technology for Community Health), which developed an innovative mobile-phone based health information system targeting health workers and their patients, aimed at improving the quality and effectiveness of health care services in rural Ghana. I am currently the NHRC Research coordinator for the EMBRACE (Ensure Mothers and Babies Regular Access to Care) implementation Research programme in Ghana, aimed at creating feasible and sustainable packages of interventions to increase continuum of care (CoC) completion rate, improve MNCH outcomes and to test such packages in rural settings.”
Francis said he was forever grateful to the INDEPTH Network, Accra, Ghana, for the Masters’ fellowship award at the School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand.
“I thank Professor Kerstin Klipstein-Grobusch and the other lecturers at Wits University for the wonderful support during my study. I’m grateful to Professor Marie-Louise Newell the then Director of Africa Centre, Till Bärnighausen, and the entire staff for the support during my internship, and the NHRC for providing the foundation in research” he added.
Thank you.
Have a restful weekend!
Becky Kwei
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