Month: December 2019

Health Economist, Bryony Dawkins, facilitated a parallel session titled “Health Economic Evaluation in LMICs: What are the challenges and possible solutions?”. The hour long session offered an introduction to economic evaluation of healthcare followed by a discussion of the complexities of undertaking such evaluations in LMICs where health systems are often made up of many providers and funded from many sources. Surgical trainees and GHRG partners developed new understanding of what health economics is and how it can be used to provide evidence to healthcare decision makers. They worked together to identify the different perspectives to be included in an economic evaluation in this setting and to think about where benefits and costs associated with healthcare fall across different groups. At the end, a group lead summarised the discussion and presented the findings to the wider conference audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor Julia Brown, facilitated a parallel session titled  “Challenges in the delivery of clinical trials in LMICs’.  The hour-long session offered an interactive introduction to clinical trials and then a discussion on the barriers/challenges in the design/delivery of clinical trials research from the participants perspectives.  The session was well attended by surgical trainees and GHRG partners. Challenges were identified as community distrust of hospital care, cultural resistance to research, lack of clinical trial knowledge and awareness amongst patients and clinicians, finance and lack of motivation. At the end, a group lead summarised and presented the findings to the wider conference audience.

On behalf of the Nuffield Centre for International Health, our GHRG colleague, Dr. Amrit Virk, facilitated a parallel session titled  “How to do health systems analysis in low-resource settings?”. The hour-long session offered an introduction to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “building blocks” framework for assessing health systems.  The session was well attended by surgical trainees and GHRG partners. Participants worked in 3 groups, each choosing a specific health system element—namely governance, medical products and health workforce, and reflected on the barriers and facilitators within each for improving surgical care in Sierra Leone. At the end, a group lead summarised and presented the findings to the wider conference audience.

On 19th November 2019, GHRG-ST travelled to Bagalkot in India to attend the 27^th Annual National Conference of Association of Rural Surgeons of India (ARSI) and 8^th International Conference of International Federation of Rural Surgery (IFRS).

During the conference, GHRG-ST delivered 2 workshops on Gas Insufflation Less Laparoscopic Surgery (GILLS).  The first workshop took place on Thursday and was for GHRG-ST invited faculty and senior members of ARSI only for participants to trial the new RAIS equipment,  bellowscope and lap pack through hands on feedback and one to one discussions with researchers on each of the projects.

The second workshop was delivered as part of the main ARSICON programme.  Delegates signed up to the workshop prior to the conference with a maximum of 20 participants.  During this session the current GILLS equipment was showcased through a cadaveric session, plus the new innovations were available for participants to have a look at.  Both workshops were very well received by all and we have received feedback to refine designs on the innovations.

On Friday the team presented work we have undertaken in India over the past 2 1/2 years.  Presentations from GHRG-ST included the TARGET training programme and GILLS registry and surgical innovations including the RAIS equipment, bellowscope and lappack.  After the presentations the team were presented with a token on appreciation from ARSICON.