INDEPTH NEWS BULLETIN
Vol. 2005, No.1
May 2005
In this issue, you will read:
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Highlights of ACAP-INDEPTH Joint Analysis Workshops in Ghana, Tanzania and Burkina Faso
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INDEPTH Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Training Workshop ends in Maputo, Mozambique
1. The 5th INDEPTH Annual General and Scientific Meeting (AGM) starts in Durban, South Africa on 23rd May, 2005
This year’s AGM of the INDEPTH Network has the theme “Measuring and responding to health and disease in developing countries.” To address this theme, a series of scientific oral and poster presentations will be made mainly by scientists from 33 member demographic surveillance system (DSS) sites in 19 countries in Africa, Asia, Central America and Oceania.
More than 120 participants from member-sites, appropriate units of government, research and academic institutions will gather in Durban for the conference. The AGM will generate the Network’s scientific agenda through its working groups, and it review progress of joint work undertaken.
When: The conference will start on Monday, 23 – 26 May 2005 in Durban and finish on the 27th May 2005 at the Africa Centre (one of the DSS sites) in Hlabisa/ KwaZulu-Natal.
Where:
The AGM
will be held at the Royal Hotel in Durban.Telephone: +27 31 333 6000
www.theroyal.co.za.
AGM hosts: The Africa Centre Demographic Information System (ACDIS) (www.africacentre.ac.za ) is a typical example of an INDEPTH-DSS site that monitors vital events in a defined geographical area. It follows a population of 95 000 with 12 500 households in a rural area of Hlabisa Sub-District in KwaZulu-Natal. The surveillance serves as the basis for focused research in three research themes below:
The Population Studies Group; utilizes a closed monitored demographic surveillance system – whereby every household in the surveillance area monitored.
The Child Health Group; focuses on ways to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and improve the health of young children through low cost and sustainable interventions.
The HIV Epidemiology, Prevention and Treatment Group; consists of researchers from a variety of disciplines that are all actively engaged in research on the Epidemiology, prevention and treatment of HIV infection.
The Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies is a joint initiative of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the South African Medical Research Council, with support from the Wellcome Trust and other funders, to create a global centre of research excellence in a rural area. The Centre’s mission is to conduct policy-relevant health and population research in an ethical manner, in partnership with the community and to enhance the capacity of the people of sub-Saharan Africa to conduct research.
Contacts for the AGM: Rhana Naicker on +27 82 341 7900 or Carina Herbst on +27 82 530 0986.
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2. The INDEPTH Network hosts on 22nd May 2005 a Technology Roadmap Stakeholder Meeting of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) in Durban, South Africa
The INDEPTH Network will host a Technology
Roadmap Stakeholder M
eeting
of the MVI on Sunday, May 22, in Durban, South Africa to discuss
strategies and priorities for accelerating development of malaria
vaccines. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Wellcome Trust
are jointly sponsoring the roadmapping process and this meeting. The
meeting will begin at 9:00 AM and end at 4:00 PM.
The meeting has been conveniently timed to coincide with the INDEPTH Annual Meeting, and will be held at the same location, the Royal Hotel in Durban.
The aim of the Stakeholder Meeting is to garner broad participation by the malaria vaccine community in the ongoing roadmapping process. Participants will hear about the results of earlier Vision and Technology Roadmap meetings, held in October 2004 and March 2005, respectively. The results include strategic goals and “big questions” that must be addressed to develop a successful vaccine, and the activities, priorities, and time lines needed to do so. Participants will have opportunities to offer their thoughts on these important issues, providing valuable input to the development of a Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap.
3. Highlights of ACAP-INDEPTH Joint Analysis Workshops in Ghana, Tanzania and Burkina Faso
Ghana Statistical service and the Navrongo Health Research Centre (Navrongo DSS)
The joint analysis workshop between the Ghana Statistical Services and the Navrongo Health Research Centre, under the auspices of the ACAP-INDEPTH collaboration and sponsored by the INDEPTH network, took place from February 16-19, 2005. The workshop was attended by the Executive Director, Prof. Fred Binka and other senior members of the two institutions, including the Deputy Government Statistician, Prof. N.N.N. Nuamah. The workshop underscored the importance of the in-country collaboration between the GSS and the various research centres. In particular, the use of datasets from the two institutins could enhance an understanding of population and health in the country. The sites are in a position to provide vital statistics at the local level, which could then be complemented by national level data from either the census or other surveys conducted by the statistical services to enhance demographic and health estimates. The workshop resolved to promote further collaboration in the areas of technical capacity enhancement.
Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Ifakara Health Research Centre (Ifakara DSS)
The meeting was sponsored by the INDEPTH Network as part of the ACAP-INDEPTH Collaboration. Local co-ordination of the meeting was by Dr. Rose Nathan of the Ifakara Health Research Centre, with Dr. Ayaga A. Bawah, as co-ordinator. The workshop was held in Bagamoyo, Tanzania from March 7-9, 2005. The workshop started presentations from both teams, which focused mainly on the available datasets in the two institutions, their structure and organization. Ongoing work was also presented by both groups. The workshop was concluded with a discussion on the way forward and how further collaborations could be enhanced.
Burkina Faso Census Bureau (INSD) and Nouna Health Research Centre (Nouna DSS)
The workshop sponsored by the INDEPTH network took place in Ouagadougou from 3-5 May at the offices of the Burkina Ministry of Health and was attended by researchers from Nouna DSS and the census bureau. It was facilitated by Dr. Bawah and Patricia Akweongo. The Director of the Nouna Health Research Centre (Dr. Bocar Kouyate) and the Director of the demographic section at the census bureau (Mr. Kano Hamissou) welcomed participants to the workshop. Presentations from the two groups were made. Further presentations covered descriptions of the respective data collection and management processes, including utility and structure and the variables collected at the DSS area and by the census. The two datasets were prepared for analysis and some preliminary analysis was done. The workshop concluded with a discussion on the way forward and future activities.
4. INDEPTH Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Training Workshop ends in Maputo, Mozambique
In collaboration wth Glaxo Smith Kline Biologicals, the INDEPTH Network organised a GCP Training course in Maputo, Mozambique from 2nd to 3rd March 2005. The course was hosted by Manhica Health Research Centre (Manhica DSS). The main objective of the course was to strengthen the scientists at relevant INDEPTH member sites with knowledge of GCP for research according to international ethical and scientific quality standards. GCP details the quality processes required in the conduct of clinical trials. It helps to ensure that subjects (healthy volunteers or patients as appropriate) are appropriately protected during the course of a clinical trial. Also, GCP ensures that written informed consent is properly obtained and that each trial has the approval of an independent Ethics Committee before the study commences. INDEPTH-funded participants were from Kintampo DSS (Ghana), Wosera DSS (Papua New –Guinea), Rakai DSS (Uganda), Navrongo DSS (Ghana), Oubritenga DSS (Burkina Faso), Ifakara DSS (Tanzania), Nouna DSS (Burkina Faso), Africa Centre DIS (South Africa) and Manhica DSS (Mozambique). The lead facilitator was Opokua Opori-Anyinam (GSK Biologicals, Belgium) and other facilitators from Manhica were Esperanca Sevene, Pedro Aide, Jahit Sacarlal, Ricardo Thompson and Joan Vives.
5.Know our member site better – Nairobi DSS, run by the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Host Institution Site Leader URL
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African Population Health Research centre (APHRC)
Dr.
Alex Ezeh Alternate Contact: Dr Eliya
Zulu |
NAIROBI URBAN DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM (NUDSS), KENYA
Nairobi City typifies the phenomenon of rapid urbanization amidst growing urban poverty in African Cities. Its population grew from 120,000 in 1948 to 2.3 million in 1999 while over 60% of its population is estimated to languish below the poverty line and reside in slum settlements characterized by poor housing and lack of basic essential services including education, health, and sanitation. The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) - in partnership with PATH, CARE, JHPIEGO, ITDG, and the Government of Kenya - is implementing a program of research and action focusing on cost-effective strategies for improving the deteriorating health and livelihood conditions of the slum residents of Nairobi City. The immediate focus of this project – known as the Nairobi Urban Health and Poverty Project (NUHPP) - is to set up cost-effective health and livelihood interventions to reduce the high disease and mortality burden among slum children.
The Nairobi Urban Demographic Surveillance System (NUDSS) was set up in 2000 in four of the city’s 30+ slums to provide a platform for investigating changing linkages between urbanization, poverty and health, and as a tool for monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the NUHPP interventions on health outcomes. The NUDSS covers about 60,000 people living in 22,000 households in two slum settlements in Nairobi City. The surveillance involves visits to all the households once every four months to continuously update information on pregnancies and pregnancy outcomes, migration, episodes of morbidity, health seeking behavior, mortality and causes of death, livelihood sources, vaccination coverage, marital status, and school attendance.