Since 2008, the Institute of Maternal Newborn and Child Health – Healthy Child Uganda has conducted annual Multidisciplinary research trainings in collaboration with Dalhousie University and with funding from MicroReseach International. These trainings are aimed at building the capacity of local health care professionals to better address community health care problems by finding local solutions for local problems through research.
This year’s training took place virtually from February 20th to March 3rd, 2023, and it benefited a total of 29 participants from Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Lira University, Bishop Stuart University, Kampala International University, St. Mary’s Lacor Hospital, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, St. Francis Family Helper Program, Kabale University and one participant from Somali National University in Somalia.
The training was facilitated by coaches and co-teachers from Dalhousie University – Canada and Mbarara University of Science and Technology. Participants were clustered into five groups according to their institutions of affiliation and were mentored to identify their research questions and these were;
- Group 1: Lived experiences of unmarried teenage mothers in accessing Maternal and Child Healthcare services at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital.
- Group 2: Acceptability of prenuptial Sickle Cell screening among young people in Northern Uganda
- Group 3: What is the level of performance of community health workers in responding to disease outbreaks in Bushenyi district?
- Group 4: Reduction of prevalence of sickle cell disease through health education on sickle cell trait in Bundibugyo district.
- Group 5: What coping mechanisms and social support are available to pregnant adolescents with depression?
Following the training, the teams will continue to work with their coaches to fully develop their proposals and apply for institutional ethical clearance. They will later be given 1500 CAD to conduct their studies and 1000 CAD for knowledge translation following publication. Main report: www.microresearch.ca
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