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Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement

The authors in this paper describe the development of a reporting guideline, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols 2015 (PRISMA-P 2015). PRISMA-P consists of a 17-item checklist intended to facilitate the preparation and reporting of a robust protocol for the systematic review. Funders and those commissioning reviews might consider mandating the use of the checklist to facilitate the submission of relevant protocol information in funding applications. Similarly, peer reviewers and editors can use the guidance to gauge the completeness and transparency of a systematic review protocol submitted for publication in a journal or other medium.      

Hypertension Education Intervention with Ugandan Nurses Working in Hospital Out Patient Clinic: A Pilot Study

Conclusion: After 3 months of implementing the nurses’ hypertension management educative interventions program, knowledge, skills, and attitudes regarding prevention, detection, risk assessment, patient education, and HBP management increased significantly. The pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of implementing a multimodal evidence-based educational intervention in a low resource environment.

Reviews: Rapid! Rapid! Rapid! ...and systematic

The methodology of systematic reviews—although laid out three or more decades ago—is continuously and rapidly updated by scientists specializing in research synthesis. Now, Systematic Reviews is publishing a series of articles including methods and examples of accelerating approaches to conducting literature reviews.      

Protective efficacy of prolonged co-trimoxazole prophylaxis in HIV-exposed children up to age 4 years for the prevention of malaria in Uganda: a randomised controlled open-label trial

WHO recommends daily co-trimoxazole for children born to HIV-infected mothers from 6 weeks of age until breastfeeding cessation and exclusion of HIV infection. We have previously reported on the effectiveness of continuation of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis up to age 2 years in these children. We assessed the protective efficacy and safety of prolonging co-trimoxazole prophylaxis until age 4 years in HIV-exposed children.

Association between Recruitment Methods and Attrition in Internet-Based Studies

Internet-based systems for epidemiological studies have advantages overtraditional approaches as they can potentially recruit and monitor a wider range of individuals in a relatively inexpensive fashion. We studied the association between communication strategies used for recruitment (offline, online, face-to-face) and follow-up participation in nine Internet-based cohorts: the Influenzanet network of platforms for influenza surveillance which includes seven cohorts in seven different European countries, the Italian birth cohort Ninfea and the New Zealand birth cohortELF. Follow-up participation varied from 43% to 89% depending on the ohort.Although there were heterogeneities among studies, participants who became aware of the study through an online communication campaign compared with those through traditional offline media seemed to have a lower follow-up participation in 8 out of 9 cohorts. There were no clear differences in participation between participants enrolled face-to-face and those enrolled through other offline strategies. An Internet-based campaign for Internet-based epidemiological studies seems to be less effective than an offline one in enrolling volunteers who keepparticipating in follow-up questionnaires. This suggests that even for Internet-based epidemiological studies an offline enrollment campaign would be helpful in order to achieve a higher participation proportion and limit the cohort attrition.

Prof Peter Piot on Ebola

Professor Peter Piot, LSHTM, talks about Ebola and implications for Africa and understanding future epidemics at the Martin School, University of Oxford, 16th October 2014.

Ebola PPE guidelines

Ebola PPE guidelines - urgent need to revise WHO and CDC guidelines. This video shows an excerpt from keynote address 'The fuss about face masks', Professor Raina MacIntyre from the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Australia.

Observational Studies: Getting Clear about Transparency

When publishing observational research, what information should journals make available to the medical community before a result can be considered sufficiently reliable to inform patient care or health policy? The PLOS Medicine editors, in recent consultation with our editorial board, endorse measures in four areas to advance transparency in the analysis and reporting of observational studies.

TDR Implementation Research Toolkit

This extensive toolkit was developed by TDR, and explains how to conduct implementation research. This toolkit was designed to help people learn a standard process that would lead to results that could be compared across regions and countries. It is designed to help identify system bottlenecks and the stakeholders to be involved, formulate appropriate research questions, conduct the research and develop a plan for implementing the study results.

Strategies to improve recruitment to randomised controlled trials

Launch of the Global Health Research Process Map

On the 8th of July 2014 The Global Health Network launched the Global Health Research Process Map, the first digital toolkit designed to enable researchers anywhere in the world to conduct rigorous global health research.

Seven principles for strengthening research capacity in low- and middle-income countries: simple ideas in a complex world

This good practice document of the ESSENCE on Health Research initiative is designed to provide broad guidance on how best to strengthen research capacity with the maximum possible benefit. 

A retrospective study of the health profile of neonates of mothers with anemia in pregnancy and pregnancy induced hypertension in Lagos, Nigeria

Writing and Publishing in Research: AuthorAid

AuthorAid is a great online tool whose aim is to support developing country researchers in publishing their work.

Mobile phones support adherence and retention of Indigenous participants in a randomised controlled trial: strategies and lessons learnt

Ensuring adherence to treatment and retention is important in clinical trials, particularly in remote areas and minority groups. This paper describes a novel approach to improve adherence, retention and clinical review rates of Indigenous children. the use of mobile phones within an Indigenous-appropriate framework has been an effective strategy to support a clinical trial involving Australian Indigenous children in urban and remote Australia. Further research is required to explore other applications of this approach, including the impact on clinical outcomes.

Research Methods Video Series

We have recently obtained permission to share some very interesting videos from Global Health Videos by Greg Martin. This video series covers issues relating to research methods and study designs in Global Health.

Researchers debunk long-held public health theory, call for new global public health

In this collection of papers researchers dismiss the Omran model as relevant to contemporary developing countries and suggest the foundation for a new framework better suited for guiding and understanding past and future epidemiological changes within these populations.

Building Research Capacity in Africa: Equity and Global Health Collaborations

Musculo-skeletal disorder risk factors among nurses in low resource settings: a cross sectional case study in Uganda

Bayesian Clinical Trials (Nature Reviews Article)

An introduction into and overview on the mathematics and practice of Bayesian (adaptive) clinical trials.