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Lessons from medical research may take years to get through to the frontline of healthcare. This is exacerbated in developing countries where there are difficulties in dissemination and barriers that prevent healthcare providers acting on new findings. Furthermore, most biomedical research is in high-income countries, and the results are not necessarily applicable in low-income countries. This meeting explored these issues through three short presentations (on dynamics and barriers, systematic reviews and recent changes in healthcare information and emerging challenges) followed by small-group and plenary discussion

This report was written from the belief that palliative care is, and will be for the forseeable future, an essential component in the continuum of managing HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. There is now a wealth of experience in sub-Saharan Africa about the ways in which palliative care can be delivered both affordably and effectively. However, there remains a lack of properly documented evidence and research to demonstrate the importance of this work and promote its development. This report provides a review of existing evaluations of palliative care projects in sub-Saharan Africa with an emphasis on isolating the factors that lead to sustainability, local ownership and scaling up; the role of palliative care in the management of HIV/AIDS and how to integrate palliative care and Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART); primary health based care projects in two countries, Kenya and Malawi, that could provide lessons for the implementation of palliative care; lessons from other parallel programmes which mirror palliative care delivery, for example, tuberculosis programmes, and primary care programmes with good links to local clinics and hospitals, and community mobilization and empowerment projects linked to health facilities. In this way it contributes to the effort of providing an evidence base to demonstrate the importance of palliative care and provides a source of reference for policy makers, practitioners, donors and researchers

This report presents the findings of a study about the livelihoods of people with physical disability in Malawi. The report, one of a series of research reports which also includes Zimbabwe and Namibia, looks at the fields of employment, education, living conditions and services for disabled people

The objective of this report is to describe strategies to reduce global disparities in health through improvements in health research systems at national and international levels and systematic application of evidence-based knowledge. It takes stock of the current state of health research around the world and reaches the following conclusions: increased investments are needed for a new, innovative approach to research on health systems; health research must be managed more effectively if it is to contribute to strengthening health systems and building public confidence in science; stronger emphasis should be placed on translating knowledge into action to improve health by bridging the gap between what is known and what is actually being done. The report provides a compass to reorient health research so that it may respond more effectively to public health challenges on a national and global level. This reorientation requires a strengthening of the health research sector, an environment that is more conducive to research-informed policy and practice, and more focus on key priorities for research to improve health systems. While building on past achievements, the report's recommendations highlight aspects of the health research sector that, if managed more closely, could reap even more benefits for public health in future

Study of the discrimination faced by people living with HIV/AIDS. The study generated both qualitative and quantitative data. Its findings indicate that AIDS-related discrimination is prevalent in every sector of society. Age and educational background do not affect the level of discrimination faced, but sex, state of health and marital status do. Women are more likely than men to experience discrimination within the family and community because of their HIV status

The purpose of this guide is to provide a ready reference tool for conducting qualitative research and planning a behaviour change communications strategy to improve newborn care practices

This study's main objectives are to evaluate traditional means of communication; to note their constraints; to select the traditional methods which can best be used for the diffusion of information and to devise a strategy for implementing the selected method of traditional communication. The methodology of this survey is based on the Active Method of Participative Research.
The study illustrates that the traditional media for communication in Cameroon are: the gong and songs accompanied by dances (in all of the surveyed provinces); the xylophone (in the center and south); griot [travelling poet] and balafon (in the east); colleagues of the traditional chiefs (Lawanes, Djaoros); and messengers of traditional chiefs or muezzins (extreme north).There are numerous constraints to using individuals in devising communications strategies: a lack of trained musicians, the lack of initiative on the part of the village elders, the disinterest of the youth, conflict among the different generations, the proliferation of modern communications technologies, the complexity of training in various methods, the possible alteration of messages, a lack of motivation and the slow speed of transmission. The study notes that the best methods for the diffusion of information in the regions surveyed in Cameroon are: the gong, the colleagues and messengers of traditional chiefs to organize village meetings in which reproductive health issues could be raised, singing and dancing, travelling poets and xylophones.
In order to devise effective strategies for conveying messages about reproductive health through these traditional methods of communication, traditional authorities must be engaged early on in the process and informed of the importance of these means of communication; qualified individuals must be identified as resources and others trained; and a training of trainers must be conducted