Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
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To identify key data sources of health information and describe their availability in countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region. ⋯ A multitude of data sources are used to track progress towards health-related goals in the Region, with heavy reliance on household surveys for most indicators. Countries need to develop comprehensive national plans for health information that address the full range of data needs and data sources and that include provision for building national capacities for data generation, analysis, dissemination and use.
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Comparative Study
Risk of self-harm and suicide in people with specific psychiatric and physical disorders: comparisons between disorders using English national record linkage.
Background Psychiatric illnesses are known risk factors for self-harm but associations between self-harm and physical illnesses are less well established. We aimed to stratify selected chronic physical and psychiatric illnesses according to their relative risk of self-harm. Design Retrospective cohort studies using a linked dataset of Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for 1999-2011. ⋯ Conclusions Psychiatric illnesses carry a greatly increased risk of self-harm as well as of suicide. Many chronic physical illnesses are also associated with an increased risk of both self-harm and suicide. Identifying those at risk will allow provision of appropriate monitoring and support.
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To describe the state of research ethics policies and practices in health research institutions in sub-Saharan African countries. ⋯ There are substantial gaps in the capacity of health research institutions in the WHO African Region to undertake ethical review of studies before, during and after studies conducted. There is a need to strengthen such capacity in order to ensure the wellbeing of individuals enrolled in studies and that of communities that host these studies.
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To estimate the sources of funds for health research (revenue) and the uses of these funds (expenditure). ⋯ Research on major health problems of the Region, such as communicable diseases, accounts for most of the research expenditures. However, the total expenditure is very low compared with other WHO regions.
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To describe human capacity and staff movement in national health research institutions in 42 sub-Saharan African countries. ⋯ The study revealed significant gaps in the area of human capacity development for research in Africa. The results showed a serious shortage of qualified staff engaged in health research, with a dearth of staff that held at least a master's degree or doctoral degree. Major efforts will be required to strengthen human resource capacity, including addressing the lack of motivation or time for research on the part of existing capable staff.