The instability in South Sudan has meant that it is currently too dangerous for the Winchester/Brickworks to visit Yei in South Sudan. Many of the local population have fled to refugee camps in Uganda. The Link is now working with those who have been displaced from Yei and Kajo Keji and the Brickworks Charity is hoping to send a team to Uganda later this year to help refugees displaced from South Sudan. 

If you would like to help or want more information, then visit the Brickworks website. 

 

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South Sudan and Health Sector Development 

There was a meeting at the Royal College of Physicians on 22nd June lead by Rich Bregazzi to develop ways to support the training of health care staff in South Sudan.

The Ambassador for the Republic of South Sudan was present and it was agreed to formally establish a UK/South Sudan Alliance for Health Sector Development. An official launch is planned for the late Autumn and a Pathfinder Project is to be developed to translate the agreements made into practical support. 

A cross-departmental study lead by Michael Head, Southampton published in The Lancet Global Health, researchers found that a quarter of countries in sub-Saharan Africa receive very little funding for research into malaria despite having high malaria-related death rates. 

The research team suggests the reason for the disparity in funding allocation could be in part due to the presence of established high-quality research infrastructure in countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, and political instability and poor healthcare infrastructures in lower-ranked nations such as Chad, Central African Republic or Sierra Leone.  

For more information contact Dr Jessica Steele, Department of Geography and Environment, University of Southampton. 

When  : 18th September, 2017 : Afternoon 
Where : Senate Room. Building 37, Highfield, University of Southampton

What   : The CEO of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Tamar Ghosh, will be visiting Southampton to talk about the RSTMH strategy and funding opportunities. 

More information : Michael Head (Senior Research Fellow, Research Investments in Global Health Study, Southampton)

OpenWHO is an interactive, web-based, knowledge-transfer platform offering online courses to improve the response to health emergencies. It can host videos, audios, animations, all in multiple languages. 
 

Why have it?

The idea for it came from dealing with Ebola in West Africa when a large number of people needed to be trained quickly. No single government, agency or team can manage today’s complex epidemics and health emergencies on their own.

Emergency response is carried out by local, national and international responders, each of whom has a different background, education and level of knowledge. Recent epidemics have highlighted the need to make quickly available key technical and operational information to thousands of front-line responders. 
 

What sort of topics does it cover? 

It hosts courses about high-threat pathogens for use by health emergency workers. Each of its several channels (Outbreak, Ready for Response, Get Social GOARN (Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network) focuses on a major area of public health emergencies. Topics include 

• Public Health Interventions in Pandemics and Epidemics
• Introduction to MERS
• Ebola pre-deployment training 
• Risk Communication Essentials 

Who runs it? 

The platform is managed by the Interventions and Guidance Team of the WHO Department for Infectious Hazards Management, in the WHO Emergencies Programme, Geneva, Switzerland. The platform is hosted by the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), an external service provider that is affiliated with Potsdam University in Germany.

Can any device use it? 

All OpenWHO contents are compatible with mobile devices. It is currently available as an app for Android gadgets and will be soon launched for IOS gadgets.

Find out more 

E-mail for more information : outbreak.training@who.int

What did tourism ever do for development? (Sustainable Tourism)  

 

 

 

 

 

The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene has produce a  special Issue on Surveillance, It looks at innovation in public health surveillance through a mix of commissioned commentaries, reviews and research articles. All papers in this issue are freely available until 31 August 2017.
 

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What   : This course is designed for students, academics and practitioners interested in gaining knowledge on food, nutrition and health in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The course will cover three areas: global food, nutrition and health-related challenges facing low and middle-income countries; key aspects of changing food systems and the politics of food; responses to hunger, malnutrition and poor health.
The course will offer theoretical aspects combined with case studies and methods to start approaching complex aspects of food systems, malnutrition, and heath in LMICs. It is aimed at providing knowledge on fundamental debates in these areas of study and policy making and, crucially, at stimulating critical thinking on these issues. The contents draw on a range of disciplinary perspectives, such as political economy, nutritional science and anthropology.

Overseas Development Institute Reports aimed at understanding plausible pathways of change to promote broad-based and equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.

 

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Delivering aid in highly insecure environments

(WHO estimates that 30 - 50% of people with TB are untreated, partly because of underdiagnosis.)

Malaria intervention and schools

The Lancet Planetary Health 
 

 

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