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. A paper just out points to INDEPTH data
The global burden of liver disease: a challenge for methods and for public health.
Peter Byass
Abtract
New Global Burden of Disease estimates for liver cirrhosis, published in BMC Medicine, suggest that cirrhosis caused over a million deaths in 2010, with a further million due to liver cancer and acute hepatitis. Cause-specific mortality data were very sparse for some regions, particularly in Africa, with no relevant mortality data for 58/187 countries.
 Liver disease involves infectious, malignant and chronic aetiologies with overlapping symptoms. Where available mortality data come from verbal autopsies, separating different types of liver disease is challenging.
Cirrhosis is a disease of rich and poor alike; key public health risk factors such as alcohol consumption play an important role. Risk-reduction strategies such as controlling the price of alcohol are being widely discussed. Since these estimates used alcohol consumption as a covariate, they cannot be used to explore relationships between alcohol consumption and cirrhosis mortality.
There is hope: coming generations of adults will have been vaccinated against hepatitis B, and this is envisaged to reduce the burden of fatal liver disease. But more complete civil registration globally is needed to fully understand the burden of liver disease.
Please see related article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/12/145/abstract
Please see attached for details.
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
We feature George Adjei of the Kintampo Health Research Centre, 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.
More information on the INDEPTH Scientific Development and Leadership Programme can be obtained by clicking on the following link: Leadership Programme.
Full name: George Adjei
Position before the programme: Data Manager, Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana
Current Position : Statistician/Research Fellow, Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana
Implementation Research in Ghana)
Student years at Wits University: 2005 - 2006
Host HDSS centre for the field attachment: Africa Centre, South Africa
George said before pursuing the MSc (MED) in Population Based Field Epidemiology, he had always concentrated on building database management systems without paying attention to the design, conduct and outcomes of studies on which he worked as a Data manager
"I attended KHRC scientific presentations without appreciating them and always had the notion that scientific presentations were meant for only clinicians. Thanks to INDEPTH Network, upon completion of this programme, I appreciate every aspect of research work" he said.
He said the programme has enlightened his understanding and appreciation of data from the perspective of populations, determinants of health states, surveillance of health conditions, disease prevention and health promotion.
"Field trips and internship which are integral part of the programme also equipped me with the practical skills and enabled me to apply what I learnt in the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa" he added.
Below are some of his publications.
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George Adjei, Yeetey Enuameh, Kingsley Osei-Kwakye, Livesy Abokyi, Samuel Kofi
Tchum, Emmanuel Koku. Societal Factors that Predispose Children under 5 Years to
Severe Malaria in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review (in Press)
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George Adjei, Yeetey A. Enuameh, Kwaku P. Asante, Frank Baiden, Ernest O. Nettey, Abubakari Sulemana, Emmanuel Mahama, Stephaney Gyaase, Seth Owusu-Agyei. Determinants of Abortions in Rural Ghana [submitted to BioMed Central Journal (Reproductive Health)]
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Agyeman-Budu A, Brown C, Adjei G, Adams A, Dosoo D, Dery D, Wilson M, Asante
KP, Greewood B, Owusu-Agyei S. Trends in multiplicity of Plasmodium falciparum
infections among asymptomatic residents in the middle belt of Ghana. Malaria
Journal 2013;12:22.
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Enuameh Y, White S, Adjei G, Abokyi L, Owusu-Agyei S, Pearson A. Perceived Facilitators and Barriers to Interventions Aimed at Reducing Unintended Pregnancies among Adolescents in Low and Middle Income (Developing) Countries: a Systematic Review of Qualitative Evidence. JBI Library of Systematic Reviews 2012; 10(52):3338-3413.
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Apanga S, Punguyire D, Adjei G. Estimating the cost to rural ambulating HIV/AIDS patients on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) in rural Ghana: a pilot study. PAMJ 2012; 12: 21
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Yeetey Enuameh, Livesy Abokyi, George Adjei. The experience of living with
chronic manifestations of Lymphatic Filariasis among patients 15 years and
older in developing countries: a systematic review. JBI Library of Systematic
Review 2010; 8:(14)589-620.
Thank you.
Have a restful weekend!
Becky Kwei |
