Articles

Regional faculties: building capacity for research

To highlight the types of activities run by The Global Health Network's innovative regional faculties, and how those can raise the capacity for research, dedicated faculty leaders Glory Oluwagbenga Ogunfowokun (Nigeria) and Jackeline Alger (Honduras) have created these video interviews

DSMBs and clinical trial safety

The Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB) or Data Monitoring Committee (DMC – these are synonymous terms) is a group of individuals put together by the sponsor or CRO (if contracted out) with relevant expertise to carry out the important role of monitoring the safety of a clinical trial study.

Basic Biostatistics Workshop Materials

The Nigerian Regional Faculty ran a workshop about Biostatistics on May 20th-21st, 2017. The workshop was well attended with 61 participants, and covered a useful range of topics. You can download the presentations from the day here.

Announcement & Call for Submissions: Big Data for Gender Challenge

Do you have research ideas for using big data to fill gender data gaps? Announcing the Big Data for Gender Challenge! Research proposals are due on July 7, 2017

FutSci: Crowdfunding for Research, Innovation and Technology in Life

FutSci (Future Science), www.FutSci.com, is the crowdfunding platform dedicated to raising funds for Research, Innovation and Technology projects within the Life Sciences arena. The platform is designed by scientists and aims to support all researchers, particularly those at an early stage in their careers by providing a complement to traditional funding avenues.

Strategies for developing sustainable health research capacity in Low and Middle Income Countries

A prospective, qualitative, multi-site study investigating the barriers and enablers to locally-led clinical trial conduct in Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Sri Lanka; here the protocol, methods and instroduction are available for readers. 

Guide: San people of Africa code of ethics for researchers

A code of ethics created by the San people of Africa for researchers wishing to study their culture.

GOST: A generic ordinal sequential trial design for a treatment trial in an emerging pandemic

This paper proposes a generic ordinal sequential trial design (GOST) for a randomised clinical trial comparing an experimental treatment for an emerging infectious disease with standard care. The design is intended as an off-the-shelf, ready-to-use robust and flexible option. This article was first published in PLOS.

"Africa’s health in transition" with Prof Kevin Marsh

This is a great video of a talk given at the Oxford Martin School by Professor Kevin Marsh.

The World Health Organization Fetal Growth Charts: A Multinational Longitudinal Study of Ultrasound Biometric Measurements and Estimated Fetal Weight

WHO made it a high priority to provide the present fetal growth charts for estimated fetal weight (EFW) and common ultrasound biometric measurements intended for worldwide use. This study provides WHO fetal growth charts for EFW and common ultrasound biometric measurements, and shows variation between different parts of the world.

Health research capacity development in low and middle income countries: reality or rhetoric?

There has been steady progress in LMIC health research capacity, but major barriers to research persist and more empirical evidence on development strategies is required.

How to create and interpret epidemic curves

Epidemic curves are an important component of the public health and global health toolbox. Learn more about creating and interpretting them.

Cochrane Crowd

Become a Cochrane citizen scientist. Anyone can join their collaborative volunteer effort.

The Global Health Trials Methodology Research Agenda: A Priority Setting Exercise

The following invitation to take part in trials methodology research comes from the Network of Hubs for Trials Methodology Research (HTMR) which was established by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) to improve the quality of clinical trials.

Global Health Research in an Unequal World: Ethics Case Studies from Africa

This book is a collection of fictionalised case studies of everyday ethical dilemmas and challenges, encountered in the process of conducting global health research in places where the effects of global, political and economic inequality are particularly evident. 

It is time to revise the international Good Clinical Practices guidelines: recommendations from non-commercial North–South collaborative trials

The Good Clinical Practices (GCP) codes of the WHO and the International Conference of Harmonization set international standards for clinical research. But critics argue that they were written without consideration for the challenges faced in low and middle income countries (LMICs).

The TDR Global Competency Framework for Clinical Research: a set of tools to help develop clinical researchers

The TDR Global Competency Framework for Clinical Research is a flexible framework which lists all the competencies that should be demonstrated by a research team to carry out a successful clinical study. It can be used for any research study, regardless of the size of the team and of the study itself. It can help to plan the staffing requirements for a study, to help carry out appraisals of staff, to help individuals plan their career development, and to help to develop educational curricula for research staff. 

The hidden side of clinical trials: Sile Lane

Around half of the clinical trials done on medicines we use today are not published; a tragic truth that needs to be changed.

Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium Safety Tools and Resources

Research in pregnant and breastfeeding women is a complex area, with both the wellbeing of the mother and child paramount. Careful monitoring of any intervention to treat, or prevent, illness is required to ensure the benefits outweigh any harms. Read this article to find out more and download some of the safety tools developed by experts from the Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium.

BMJ Blog - Richard Smith: The “micro-macro problem” and the difficulty of using evidence to make policy

In this BMJ blog, Richard Smith discusses the challenges and process of getting research evidence into policy and practise