6th Summer Institute for New Global Health Researchers

University of Ouagadougou
Institut supérieur des sciences de la population (ISSP)
Burkina Faso, West Africa
July 22-30, 2009

Summary Report

The 6th Summer Institute for New Global Health Researchers (SI-6) was a unique and special event. Held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, SI-6 was the first francophone Summer Institute, and the first Institute held in West Africa. Following the 5th Summer Institute, which had a Global Indigenous Health Research theme, SI-6 also adopted a thematic focus. In addition to the overall focus, common to all Summer Institutes, on “research to action”, SI-6 focused broadly on the theme of Maternal and Child Health.

SI-6 was organized in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the CHUM Research Centre at the University of Montréal. Our host organization was the Institut Supérieur de la Recherche en Santé de la Population (ISSP), University of Ouagadougou. The ISSP was created in October 2005 and has as its mission: “Developing national and regional capacity in the analysis of questions of population and development, and the development, monitoring and evaluation of health programmes and social policy”. SI-6 participants met each day in the ISSP building on the University of Ouagadougou campus.

Selecting Participants

A team was established for the planning and management of all aspects of SI-6 (see figure A). This volunteer team worked in coordination with the CCGHR project officer and other members of the secretariat.  A call for applications was prepared and posted to the CCGHR website in November 2008. In addition to being posted to the website, the call was distributed to relevant universities, organizations and via mailing lists. The goals of SI-6, as stated in the guidelines for the application, were:

1. To explore the challenges of a comprehensive approach to Maternal and Child Health and gender and health; for example: how can research on the challenges of maternal and child health reflect the importance of gender, primary health care informed approaches and equity in health? How can health outcomes be improved in a way that recognizes the importance of health systems, including human resources, and sustainable policy change?
2. To strengthen participants’ understanding of global challenges to Maternal and Child Health and gender and health.
3. Based on a Social Determinants of Health approach, provide opportunities for skill development of relevant competencies such as advocacy, leadership, partnership building, ethics, and knowledge translation.
4. To discuss issues related to global health research of particular interest and importance to those considering a career in this field.
5. To develop partnerships between new researchers from the South and from Canada.

Applications were received by dyads composed of one Canadian and one person from a low-or-middle income country. Three peer review teams were assembled (one Francophone, one bilingual and one Anglophone), each including an alumnus from a former Summer Institute. Applications were accepted in both English and French. Dyads were required to have at least one partner that was competent in French. A total of sixteen applications were received. Ten teams, or twenty participants, were thus selected to participate in the 6th Summer Institute.

The following people generously volunteered their time and expertise as peer reviewers: Blami Dao, Jennifer Douek, Alexandre Dumont, William Fraser, Robert Geneau, Michael Hawkes, Afsana Koasar, Isabelle Valérie Moreira, Abdoulaye Nitiema, Vinh-Kim Nguyen, Pierre Ongolo-Zogo, Valéry Ridde, Chantal Robillard, and Kim Scott.

Pre-Institute Preparation

As in previous years, participants and facilitators at SI-6 had access to a collaborative, online workspace that allowed them to submit an individual profile and an updated summary of their research project. Using the web space, they were able to familiarize themselves with other participants and facilitators prior to the Institute. A series of “pre-institute notes” from the planning team were also circulated to the participants and were posted on the web space. These notes included relevant logistical information and the structure and logic of the institute and invited participants to share their “outcome expectations” for SI-6 with fellow participants and facilitators. Folders were also prepared on the site for each presentation and workshop. These included a resource guide and key recommended readings. The participants were encouraged to review the materials prior to attending the activities.

Participants and Facilitators

As demonstrated by the list of SI-6 dyads and their projects (Figure B), the teams brought diverse backgrounds and a variety of approaches to the broad theme of Maternal and Child health. For example, teams were working on topics including: health services and systems, including access to health services; the environment and health; neurological health and nutrition. Participants remarked at the knowledge gained from sharing across disciplines, truly enriching their understanding of “global health”. The facilitators and resource people (Figure C) further elevated the discussions with their knowledge and experience in numerous global health competencies. Participants and resource people represented the following countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Cote D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mongolia, Niger, Senegal and Tanzania.

Figure B: Participants and Project Summaries
Dyad	Project
Loubna Belaid (Canada) and Aissa Diarra (Niger)	The impact of abolition of payment for primary health services on health equity for women and children in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.
Marylène Dugas (Canada) and Aboubakary Sanou (Burkina Faso)	Research and intervention around the Pre-Natal Services available to and accessed by women in Burkina Faso.
Béatrice Nikiéma (Canada) and Gervais Beninguissé (Cameroon)	This project aims to improve the reactivity of maternal health services in rural areas in Burkina Faso and Cameroon
Sarah McTavish (Canada) and Marie-José Micheline Essi (Cameroon)	Exploring women’s social networks and their potential to facilitate women’s access to health services.
Erica Corbett (Canada) and Sebalda Leshabari (Tanzania)	Enhancing Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Outcomes: Examining the influence of men in the PMTCT process
Karine Pelletier (Canada) and Charles Daboné (Burkina Faso)	Examining the impact of a WHO initiative called “Écoles amies de la Nutrition” on the incidence of obesity, chronic illness and nutritional deficiencies in Burkina Faso.
Nolwenn Noisel (Canada) and Aïssata Diakité (Côte D’Ivoire)	Evaluating the health impact of consuming fish products contaminated with heavy metals for pregnant women in Côte D’Ivoire.
Blaise Nguendo (Canada) and Christophe Kimona (DRC)	Examining the effects of involving community members in primary health care and promotion within communities affected by a high incidence of neurological malformations in DRC.
Meghan Wagler (Canada) and Munkzhul Micchig (Mongolia)	Strengthening the National Health Research System in Mongolia by examining the research-to-policy-to-practice process in the area of maternal and child primary care.
Catherine Pirkle (Canada) and Mohaman Moha (Niger)	Describing and analysing the function and means of financing the offer and demand for PMTCT services in Niger, Senegal and Mali.

Summer Institute Facilitator-In-Training Programme (SI-FIT)

For the third consecutive year, a “facilitator-in-training” program was offered at SI-6. The purpose of the FIT program is to offer alumni of previous Summer Institutes the opportunity to gain further leadership training. They act as facilitators to a dyad, while receiving guidance and mentorship from a “senior” facilitator. The FIT’s are chosen based upon a letter of application submitted to the planning team.

This year Michael Hawkes and Claude Masumbuko, former dyad partners from SI-4, were selected as SI-FIT’s. Unfortunately, Claude was unable to attend at the last minute due to unforeseen obligations. Michael Hawkes indicated that his experience as an SI-FIT was positive. In particular he appreciated the learning opportunities offered by the context of Burkina Faso and the francophone environment, He also appreciated the opportunity to learn from senior mentors and to make connections. Michael also indicated that despite being an alumnus of a previous SI, he was able to learn a great deal at SI-6.

Decision-Maker Participation

The Summer Institutes are consistently centred on building capacity for facilitating “research-to-action”, providing support to participants to develop projects that will lead to impact in low- and middle-income country settings. At SI-6, an innovation was introduced and supported by the Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI), under the leadership of Dr. Robert Geneau (GHRI program officer and SI-5 alumnus). Decision-makers (Figure D) were invited to participate at SI-6 as resource people. On the second day of the event, a “Research-to-Action” workshop was offered. During this workshop, decision-makers formed a panel, speaking to issues of research-to-action from the perspective of decision-makers. The decision-makers also participated actively in the entire Institute, generously volunteering their time as resource people to participants and providing valuable comments on final dyad presentations.

Feedback on the involvement of decision-makers by participants was very positive, with many participants naming this new feature as a highlight of SI-6. The involvement of decision-makers at SI-6 was piloted and is expected to inform a more formal decision-maker engagement strategy in future Summer Institutes.

SI-6 Programme

As in past years, the programme of SI-6 was designed to offer participants a diversity of events and learning opportunities- presentations, workshops, dyad working time and “open spaces”. The dyads began the event with brief presentations of their research projects, and were provided with comments to help them to begin formulating their “research-to-action” plans. The workshops and presentations not only focused on “research-to-action”, but also on a number of other key competencies for global health research and case studies in maternal and child health.

The workshops offered were:

• Introduction to Research to Action;
• Research to Action: Decision-Maker Perspectives;
• Leadership and Capacity Development;
• Ethics: A Gender and Equity Lens;
• Opportunities for Funding in Global Health Research.

Participants also enjoyed the following presentations:

• Case Study: Prevention of Maternal Mortality in Kayes, Mali;
• Case Study: Example of Research to Action in Child Health and Nutrition;
• Case Study: The Ouagadougou Population Health Observatory;
• Global Indigenous Health and Vulnerability;
• Case Study: Equity in Access to Health Services in Burkina Faso.

SI-6 participants also had the opportunity to attend the “1st Population and Health Scientific Days”, which took place on the 23rd and 24th of July. The symposium was organized by Masters students from the ISSP. Its objective was to analyze, using a multidisciplinary approach, several population health challenges including: reproductive health, nutrition and migration. Centered on the principle theme “Population and Health in Africa: Issues and Challenges”, four sub-themes were drawn upon to introduce information and solutions by better analyzing the context of challenges. Policies and on the ground experiences were examined in order to understand possible solutions to population health problems, and to better appreciate the roles of development actors. SI-6 participants attended the symposium on July 24th, which provided an additional learning opportunity, as well as a chance to network with students and faculty of the ISSP.

Allotted time was provided throughout the event for dyads to work together or with their facilitators on their research-to-action project. “Open spaces” were also provided, allowing for non-scheduled topics to be discussed, for dyads to spend additional time working together, or for participants to seek out facilitators and resource people for advice. One “open space” was dedicated to holding a workshop with interested participants on partnerships in global health research.

The event ended with presentations of each dyad’s research-to-action plans. While many dyads were in different stages in their projects, each team was asked to focus on the key messages of their research and to present the way in which they envisioned the dissemination and application of their results. This included a discussion of how they would engage decision-makers. They received feedback on their presentations from the facilitators, resource people, decision-makers and their fellow participants.

Following the presentations, a feedback session was held, allowing members of the group to share their favourite aspects of SI-6 and also to share suggestions for elements that could be improved in the future.

Evaluation

In addition to the group feedback session, 22 out of 30 SI-6 participants and facilitators completed evaluations forms, providing the planning team with standardized ratings of numerous elements of SI-6, from logistics to content. For example, on a scale of 1 to 5, 91% of participants indicated that they were very satisfied or extremely satisfied with their experience at SI-6. When asked to rate specific aspects of SI-6, 81% expressed a high degree of satisfaction with presentations, and 95% indicated that they were very or extremely satisfied with the workshops.

They were also asked to expand on this information with written feedback. Several components that participants appreciated include: the opportunity to network with colleagues from other countries and from different disciplinary backgrounds; the interdisciplinary nature of the event and diverse background of participants and facilitators; the participation of decision-makers; and the approach to facilitation during the event.

What I liked best about SI-6…

• “The exchange between researchers and decision-makers…”
• “…barriers of academia were broken down and we could relate as equals who were passionate about the same things… “
• “The advice and suggestions of resource persons and facilitators…”
• “The work in dyads, the sharing and exchange of knowledge, the training on research ethics”
• “The interactive pedagogy of the workshops”
• “…the open spirit and the opportunity to exchange in French”

Participants also made constructive suggestions about how to improve the Summer Institute in the future. These comments will be taken into consideration by the planning teams of future Summer Institutes.

Suggestions for the Improvement of Future Summer Institutes…

• “Better connection between facilitators and dyads in the pre-institute phase”
• “Better integration of gender…gender is not implicit in the study of maternal and child health”
• “Earlier planning for access to pre-institute documents… documents should be available earlier”
• “The involvement of decision-makers from different areas in order to reinforce the intersectoral nature of health research”

Overall, SI-6 was a great success. In particular, the focus on maternal and child health, the involvement of the decision-makers, and the entirely francophone environment made SI-6 a very special experience for everyone involved.

 

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