INDEPTH encourages you to update your HDSS profile(s)

Dear Centre Leaders,
Greetings from the INDEPTH Secretariat. We hope you have had a good week.

We apologise for not sending this newsletter yesterday

We have three items for your attention this week:

1. INDEPTH Resident Research Fellows (IRRF) Competition 2014 - 2015
As part of efforts to train and strengthen the research capacities of the next generation of young scientists from its member centres, the INDEPTH Network is introducing a new concept tentatively known as the INDEPTH Resident Research Fellows (IRRF) Competition for Young Scientists.

The main idea is to host at least one carefully selected INDEPTH young scientist every year at the INDEPTH Secretariat for an intensive research period of one month where they can devote time to work on and complete a multi-centre paper for which s/he is first author.

Please see attached for details.

2. Training opportunities
Please find below some external training opportunities.

• Wellcome Trust Training Fellowships in Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Applications from candidates carrying out research in the areas of public health and tropical medicine will be considered by the Public Health and Tropical Medicine Interview Committee (PHATIC). All other applications will be considered by the Clinical Interview Committee (CIC).

Candidates will be notified two weeks before the interview date as to whether they have been shortlisted. Interviews will be conducted at the Wellcome Trust's offices in London.

Next full application deadline: 1 December 2014 (5pm)

Shortlisted candidate interviews: 18-20 February 2015 (PHATIC) and 26-27 February 2015 (CIC)

Details of future deadlines:

• Round 3 full application deadline: 10 April 2015 (5pm)
• Shortlisted candidate interviews: 17-19 June 2015 (PHATIC) and 24-26 June 2015 (CIC)

For details click on the link : Details

• Training Workshop on M&E of Population Health & Nutrition Programs

Regional Training Workshop on Monitoring and evaluation of population, health and nutrition programs, Bangkok, Thailand.
Deadline for applications: 24 October 2014
Workshop information and application forms are accessible at: www.ipsr.mahidol.ac.th

• Postdoctoral Fellowships

The Centre for Research in Demography and Societies of the Catholic University of Louvain – Belgium (www.uclouvain.be/demo) informs of the launch of the "MOVE-IN Louvain" call for postdoc fellowships by the Université catholique de Louvain (www.uclouvain.be). These fellowships – for a period of 12 to 24 months – are addressed to researchers who have not stayed or worked in Belgium for more than 12 months over the last 3 years. Priority is given to the following areas of research: Internal and international migrations, Fertility and family, Health, mortality, ageing, Population and environment, and Cross-cutting themes.

Deadline for applications: 07 November 2014
Further information on this call and application forms are available at: http://www.uclouvain.be/en-477969.html (English version).

3. Meet our graduates from the INDEPTH-funded MSc Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

For our short profile today, we focus on Sammy Khagayi of the Kenya Medical Research Institute-Center for Global Health Research (KEMRI-CGHR) Kisumu HDSS, Kenya.

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.

More information on the INDEPTH Scientific Development and Leadership Programme can be obtained by clicking on the following link: Leadership Programme.

Full Name: Sammy Khagayi
Position before the programme: Data Analyst, Kenya Medical Research Institute-Center for Global Health Research (KEMRI-CGHR) Kisumu HDSS, Kenya
Current Position: Principal Data Analyst, KEMRI-CGHR HDSS Student years at Wits University: 2008 - 2009
Student years at Wits University: 2008 - 2009
Host HDSS centre for the field attachment: Navrongo HDSS, Ghana

"Sammy is currently a PhD student in epidemiology at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute/University of Basel in Switzerland and his research is on Bayesian spatio-temporal estimation of Malaria burden in the Kisumu HDSS.

This is what he has to say about the master's programme: “The programme was very useful since it equipped me with advanced skills in epidemiology and biostatistics which have made me more relevant to my research institution.”

Since completing his masters’ degree, he has been working as a senior data analyst where he is the lead supervisor/coordinator of hospital/clinic surveillance data section. Among his duties are:

• Leads the data management, planning and implementation of data analysis for assigned studies in the HDSS.
• Coordinating a WHO/AFRO funded programme for population based rotavirus surveillance for the last 5 years.
• Manage and control the budget for the hospital surveillance section, write annual technical and financial reports to the various funders.
• Training junior data analysts, data clerks and data managers on research methodologies, statistics and use of statistical software (SAS, Stata and R).

Sammy had his field attachment at the Navrongo HDSS, Ghana, and his project topic was "Socioeconomic status and elderly adult mortality in rural Ghana: evidence from the Navrongo DSS" which has been published.

Below are his publications:

• Desai M, Buff AM, Khagayi S, Byass P, Amek N, van Eijk A, et al. (2014) Age-Specific Malaria Mortality Rates in the KEMRI/CDC Health and Demographic Surveillance System in Western Kenya, 2003–2010. PLoS ONE. 2;9(9):e106197.
• Emukule GO, Khagayi S, McMorrow ML, Ochola R, Otieno N, Widdowson M-A, et al. (2014) The Burden of Influenza and RSV among Inpatients and Outpatients in Rural Western Kenya, 2009–2012. PLoS ONE. 18;9(8):e105543
• Emukule GO, McMorrow M, Ulloa C, Khagayi S, Njuguna HN, et al. (2014) Predicting Mortality among Hospitalized Children with Respiratory Illness in Western Kenya, 2009–2012. PLoS ONE 9(3): e92968. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092968
• Khagayi S, Burton DC, Onkoba R, Ochieng B, Ismail A, Mutonga D, Muthoni J, Feikin DR, Breiman RF, Mwenda JM, Odhiambo F, Laserson KF. ( 2014).   HYPERLINK "http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24343611"  High burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis in young children in rural Western kenya, 2010-2011.  Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. ;33 Supplement 1:S34-40
• Khagayi S, Tate JE, Onkoba R, Parashar U, Odhiambo F, Burton D, Laserson K, Feikin DR, (2014). A sham case-control study of effectiveness of DTP-Hib-hepatitis B vaccine against rotavirus acute gastroenteritis in Kenya. BMC Infectious Disease Journal.
• Fuller JA, Summers A, Katz MA, Lindblade KA, Njuguna H, Arvelo W, Khagayi S, Emukule G, Linares-Perez N, McCracken J, Nokes J, Ngama M, Kazungu S, Mott JA, Olsen SJ, Widdowson M, Feikin DR. (2013) Estimation of the national disease burden of influenza-associated severe acute respiratory illness in Guatemala and Kenya: A novel methodology. PLoS ONE 8(2): e56882
• Thompson MG, Breiman RF, Hamel MJ, Desai M, Emukhule G, Khagayi S, Shay DK, Morales K, Kariuki S, Bigogo GM, Njenga MK, Burton DC, Odhiambo F, Feikin DR, Laserson KF, Katz MA. (2012). Influenza and malaria co-infection among young children in western Kenya, 2009-2011. Journal of Infectious Diseases.
• Murray E.L, Khagayi S, Ope S, et al, (2012), “What are the most sensitive and specific sign and symptom combinations for influenza in patients hospitalized with acute respiratory illness? Results from western Kenya, January 2007–July 2010” Epidemiology and Infection, Cambridge University Press.
• Khagayi S, Wak G, Hogson A, Debpuur C. (2011), Socioeconomic status and elderly adult mortality in rural Ghana: Evidence from the Navrongo DSS. African Population Studies Vol 25, 1 (Supplement) pp. 1-16.

Thank you.

Have a restful weekend!

Becky Kwei