IUHPE

Since 2004, over 160 professionals from 6 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda) and from multi-disciplinary backgrounds (such as nutrition, community nurses, media, policy/decision- makers, physicians, health promoters, public health professionals, social scientists, physical activity professionals, etc.) have been trained.

 

Executive Summary of Recent Courses

The 2008 and 2009 CDC/IUHPE Annual Seminars on Cardiovascular Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Epidemiology have been summarized. Executive Summaries of the courses and parallel meetings are now available:

• Executive Summary of the 5th CDC/IUHPE Annual Seminars on Cardiovascular Health promotion and Chronic Disease epidemiology that took place in Bagamoyo, Tanzania on July 20th through 30th 2008

• Executive Summary of the 6th CDC/IUHPE Annual Seminars on Cardiovascular Health promotion and Chronic Disease epidemiology that took place in Entebbe, Uganda on July 8th through 18th 2009

 

Lessons learnt and Recommendations

The first four Annual Seminars have been independently evaluated. This evaluation was conducted to share knowledge, experiences, lessons learnt, and good practice examples; to inform future work and better achieve the objectives of the seminars as well as to ensure these are disseminated within the region and more broadly.

• An executive summary of the independent evaluation is available

• The comprehensive evaluation report is also available

The members of the faculty of the CDC/IUHPE Annual Seminars on Cardiovascular Health Promotion and Education have actively addressed the recommendations from the independent evaluation report to inform improved process and delivery of the 6th CDC/IUHPE Annual Seminar. Please refer to the Executive Summary for more details on how the recommendations were addressed.

 

Abstracts, Progress and Results of team projects developed during the seminars

Each year, the country teams developed projects based on teachings and group work during the training seminars. The projects were developed with the following considerations in mind:

• Make it local: The projects should be adapted to the communities you know best. Be creative in thinking about how to implement the most effective and potentially sustainable interventions.

• Focus on community health development: Our goal is to advance health promotion at the population or community level. Of course, we are also concerned about individuals who already have CVD, however that is not the focus of this programme.

• Make it feasible: It is very tempting to propose a large, comprehensive project. At this stage, however, it is important to take on something that can be accomplished within current available resources, which should be carefully assessed while projects are being planned.

• Evaluate whatever you do: Cardiovascular disease prevention in Africa is at an early stage and we have much to learn. We must remember that each of these efforts is an important opportunity to learn more and improve our chances of success in the long term.

 

Project proposals include:

• An abstract;

• A problem statement and a brief review of current knowledge attached to such problems;

• A statement of the specific goals;

• A description of the plan for the intervention and timeline; An evaluation plan; and

• A budget.

 

Examples of what has or is currently being done in the region will soon be available for the following countries:

• The Gambia;

• Ghana;

• Nigeria;

• Kenya;

• Tanzania;

• Uganda;