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INDEPTH NEWS BULLETIN Vol. 2003, No.11, 2003 |
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In this issue:
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1.The 4th INDEPTH Annual General & Scientific Meeting; 1st in Asia!
The vibrant Vietnamese city of Hanoi (see www.vietnamtourism.com/e_pages/e_index.htm for more information on Hanoi) will on 3-7 May 2004 host the first INDEPTH Annual General and Scientific Meeting (AGM) in Asia! This will be the Network’s 4th AGM. The AGM will take place at the MELIA HANOI Hotel in Hanoi (www.meliahanoi.com) and will be organised on behalf of the INDEPTH Secretariat by the Hanoi Medical School ( www.hmu.edu.vn) and the FilaBavi DSS (see brief introduction of our INDEPTH member site below).
The theme of the 4th AGM is: INDEPTH Network – Using demographic surveillance systems to better understand population dynamics and health in developing countries. Plenary sessions will be held related to the following specific themes that build up the main theme:
· Demographic Transition in Asia: Evidence from INDEPTH Sites · Migration at INDEPTH sites: Any relationship with key health outcomes. · Capacity Building/Strengthening in the Developing World · Health economics including health inequalities – Evidence from INDEPTH sites. · Ethics and Longitudinal Studies or Health? · Health informatics · What is killing children and adults in INDEPTH sites? · Reproductive Health and INDEPTH · The Emerging Non-Communicable Diseases in the Developing World · The Current Situations of Communicable Diseases in the Developing World · The HIV/AIDS Pandemic – What Next in the Developing World?
INDEPTH AGMs brings together more than 80 participants from all over the world to discuss current issues related to demographic surveillance in developing countries. Participants represent diverse constituencies including scientists from demographic surveillance system (DSS) sites in Africa and Asia, interested professionals, research and academic institutions, NGOs, donor groups, and appropriate units of governments.
For more information on the forthcoming and previous AGMs of the Network, see the AGM link on this website.
Introducing FilaBavi DSS FilaBavi DSS is a full member of the INDEPTH Network. It is in Bavi District of Ha Tay Province in Northern Vietnam. The site which is situated 60 km west of Hanoi was initiated in 1999. The whole population of Bavi District is 240 000, and the population under surveillance is 51 024 (11 089 households), about 21% of the district’s population. Bavi District has 32 commune health stations (CHSs), one in each commune. Twenty-one of these CHSs are under the direct supervision of the Bavi District Health Centre, and three intercommunal polyclinics supervise and support the 11 others. The overall objective of the FilaBavi DSS is to develop an epidemiological surveillance system in Bavi to: Generate basic health data; Supply information for health planning; Serve as a background and sampling frame for specific studies, especially intervention studies; and Constitute a setting for epidemiological training of research students.
2. INDEPTH session ends at Forum 7 in Geneva
The Network held an information session in Geneva, Switzerland, taking advantage of the seventh annual meeting (Forum 7) of the Global Forum for Health Research (www.globalforumhealth.org). The session was chaired by Prof. Steve Tollman of the School of Public Health at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Prof. Tollman is Chair of the INDEPTH Board of Trustees. The theme of the session was: Demographic Surveillance Systems and their contribution to Health Research in Developing Countries.
Prof. Fred Binka, Executive Director of the INDEPTH Network gave an introductory presentation that highlighted the key achievements of the Network, mentioning published and forthcoming works in the INDEPTH monograph series. He also informed of the INDEPTH Scientific Development and Leadership Programme for which the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa has been selected to host a special INDEPTH Masters programme in field epidemiology. Prof. Binka also spoke briefly on the current research agenda of the network, mentioning Health Equity and Cause-Specific Mortality as examples of key areas.
Dr. Davidson R. Gwatkin of the World Bank gave a synthesis of the INDEPTH Health Equity project. The key significance of the project is that INDEPTH has demonstrated that there are large inequalities in health even in smaller areas. Prof. Basia Zaba of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who has strong collaborations with several INDEPTH sites gave an overview presentation of HIV/AIDS research in INDEPTH sites, highlighting the value added by INDEPTH in providing a platform to compare results within and across countries and regions. Dr. Vicky Hosegood of the Africa Centre in Mtubatuba, South Africa (INDEPTH member site) who is also at the London School, illustrated with the HIV/AIDS research undertaken at the Africa Centre the important contribution DSS can make to such types of research. Ending the presentations, Dr. Ayaga Bawah, Head of the DSS in Navrongo Health Research Centre in Ghana (INDEPTH member site), presented ongoing work on the INDEPTH Model Life Tables for Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Bawah emphasised the use of an INDEPTH standard age population that typifies the young populations in sub-Saharan Africa.
Among the posters displayed was one on Kanchanaburi DSS, an INDEPTH member site in Thailand. The site leader, Dr. Varachai Thonghai was present.
The audience came from diverse constituencies including WHO, DFID, IDCCR,B, INCLEN, University of Nairobi, University of Manchester, NIH, Ghana Health Service, Malawi Public Health Association, Muhimbili University Tanzania, and NIDI, The Hague, The Netherlands.Throughout the week, INDEPTH maintained a stall in the Marketplace.
3. INDEPTH Data Systems: Workshop on Relational Databases & SQL ends in Mtubatuba, South Africa.
This workshop was a joint effort involving Wits-Agincourt, and the African Centre, with Sam Clark and Kobus Herbst acting as joint organisers/convenors. It was funded by University of Colorado at Boulder.The key objective of the INDEPTH Data Systems Working Group is to develop/strengthen capacities in INDEPTH sites in various issues related to data systems. In this regard, the Data Systems WG held on 18-21 November a successful workshop on “The Relational Database and SQL in the context of health and population surveillance” at the Africa Centre, Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Participants were instructed in the relational model of data, the practical implementation of the relational model of data in a modern relational database management system, the Structured Query Language (SQL) that is used to manipulate a relational database, the Reference Data Model on which many DSS databases are currently based, and finally, in specific SQL queries that address common needs in health and population surveillance.
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