BU Research Blog

Category / Communities, Cultures and Conflicts

20 September 2016

BU at ATLAS annual conference

BU had a strong presence at the ATLAS (Association for Tourism and Leisure Education and Research) annual conference which took place in the historic town of Canterbury, between 13-16 September, on “Tourism, Lifestyles and Locations”.

BU has been a member of the ATLAS network for many years and Dr Lenia Marques was one of the founders of the Special Interest Group on Events back in 2010. The group is very active and has several ongoing projects and collaborations amongst its members.

Several BU academics presented and discussed their research in Canterbury. Dr Hanaa Osman and Dr Lorraine Brown presented a piece of research which touches upon the status of women in tourism and which provoked debate on intercultural issues. Dr Anya Chapman presented her work on piers, which are so important for UK coastal destinations, such as Bournemouth. Dr Jaeyeon Choe presented her research on tourism and quality of life in Macao and we should congratulate her on her first attendance as the ATLAS Asia representative on the board.

Dr Lenia Marques presented her research on events and communities and practice among expats in a panel organised together with the Department of Events and Leisure and the Department of Tourism and Hospitality dedicated to “Lifestyle and communities: sharing in the digital era”. The panel, put together by Dr. Lenia Marques, Juliette Hecquet and Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis, aimed at discussing new trends in the fields of leisure and tourism connected to lifestyle and the sharing economy.

Overall, the discussions at the conference were animated and friendly, raising some of the big issues of our time. Collaborations, projects and further developments will surely continue in the run-up to the next ATLAS annual conference to be held in Viana do Castelo, Portugal (12-16 September 2017) under the theme “Destinations past, present and future”.

15 September 2016

New sociology book by Prof Ann Brooks

Publishing, Women's Academic Network Edwin van Teijlingen

Genealogies of Emotions, Intimacies, and Desire: Theories of Changes in Emotional Regimes from Medieval Society to Late Modernity (Hardback) book cover

Congratulations to Prof. Ann Brooks in FHSS on the publication of her latest book Genealogies of Emotions, Intimacies and Desire: Theories of Changes in Emotional Regimes from Medieval Society to Late Modernity. The book has a Foreword by David Konstan (NYU) and it is published by Routledge.

12 September 2016

FHSS PhD student Jib Acharya presented at University of Chester

international, PG research, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Mr. Jib Acharya presented at The Nutrition Society Student Conference in Chester last week. He presented from his PhD work Healthy eating among mothers in Nepal: A qualitative exploration, which is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. His thesis found that mothers in Nepal misunderstand the role of healthy eating to combat nutritional problems in their children. Often their beliefs and attitudes can result in the improper feeding of young children which can lead to several complications, particularly in pre-school-aged children. There is a growing quantitative research on nutrition in Nepal but very little qualitative research. Therefore, as part of his mixed-methods study Jib explored food knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, and behaviour of mothers related to feeding preschool aged children and their perceptions of key barriers to healthier eating.

Using seven focus groups with four pharmacists, seven policy-makers, eleven health workers, five spiritual healers, seven Auxiliary Nurse midwives, seven mothers participating in a mothers’ group, and nine social workers. A thematic approach was performed for data analysis. Relevant quotes are presented. His qualitative thematic analysis revealed the following themes: poverty, education level, strong cultural beliefs, family size, household income, time and a growing preference for fast food. This particular presentation at the University of Chester highlighted the themes related to culture and societal behaviour.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

5 September 2016

Women Academics Centre Stage in Presidential Roles in Major International Professional Bodies and Conference Organisation

conferences, Fusion, international, Research themes Lisa Andrews

Women Academics Centre Stage in Presidential Roles in Major International Professional Bodies and Conference Organisation

3^rd International Sociological Association Forum of Sociology

10-14 July2016, University of Vienna, Austria

Professor Ann Brooks

Bournemouth University

This year’s Third ISA was held at the University of Vienna and shortly after Brexit, so I braced myself to face a barrage of jokes and recriminations about the UK vote. Well there was some gentle humour in the plenaries but the response was mainly one of pity. The conference was based in the opulence of the University of Vienna… . With its historical and contemporary position in relation to both European and global sociology this conference attracted 4,000 sociologists from across the globe. I usually find the ISA a somewhat unwieldy conference compared to the BSA and ASA but Research Committtee (RC) 32 Women in Society, has a wonderfully inclusive feel and gave coherence to the entire conference for me (see below). Increasingly some of the best conferences have women centre stage, including the ASA 2015 Conference in Chicago, with the then ASA President, Paula England, and the current ASA President and Chair of the 2016 Program Committee, Ruth Milkman (CUNY –Graduate Centre). The ASA Conference was held in Seattle in August 2016. The current ISA President is Margaret Abraham (Hofstra University, USA) who together with a team at the University of Vienna delivered a conference which did not disappoint.

A series of important and thoughtful plenaries addressed the global dimensions of the conference with the University of Vienna organising team providing an interesting European dimension addressing the Brexit issue. A generally favourable balance was achieved between global and European dimensions. The Opening Plenary featured a number of academics from the University of Vienna and they were clearly delighted at attracting over 5,000 sociologists to this impressive university as the conference base. The Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Vienna, Ulrike Felt, provided an uplifting and impressive summary of the social sciences at the University Vienna and I can see the number of applicants for positions there escalating as a result. It was also great to see governmental support for the social sciences, with Barbara Weitgruber, Director General, Austrian Ministry of Science delivering a very positive statement in support of the social sciences. Margaret Abraham’s ISA Presidential Address, found here:

http://www.isa-sociology.org/forum-2016/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW44_sW4Jmc

was an important statement in equity and intersectionality and made an important contribution to this lively opening Plenary. Margaret is also an important contributor to the ASA Conference, particularly in terms of the International aspects of both conferences.

While the conference lacked the celebrity appeal of the ASA, it certainly did not lack in the seriousness of the debates. One of the most interesting debates came from the closing plenary chaired by Marcus Schultz (New School for Social Research, New York), with Asef Bayat (University of Illinois) ‘Imagining a Post-Islamist Democracy’, Akosua Adomako Ampofo (University of Ghana) ‘Black Lives Matter and the Status of the African World’, Todd Gatlin (Columbia) ‘What Kind of a World Can Weather Climate Change?’ and Alain Touraine (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales, France), as discussant.

Research Committee (RC) 32 Women in Society

The size of the conference meant that affiliation to specific programs proved a favoured response. I am a member of RC32 Women in Society and the program was widely regarded as one of the best at the conference. The Program Coordinators for RC32, Akosua Adomako Ampofo and Josephine Beoku-Betts (Florida Atlantic) had worked to organise an extensive range of panels and roundtables including: ‘Human Trafficking: The Labour and Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children’; ‘Twenty Years after Beijing: A Cross-National Approach to Feminist Movements and the Implementation of the Platform for Action’; ‘Global Sociology and Feminist Perspectives on Care, Care Work and the Struggle for a Careful World’; ‘Knowledge Production: Feminist Perspectives in the 21^st Century’; ‘Gender, Law and the Courts: Local and Global Struggles Against Violence’; ‘ Intersectionalities of Power in Research: Strategies for Action and Justice’; ‘Gender, Culture and Technologies in the Knowledge Economy’; ‘Muslim Women’s Struggles for a Better World through Promoting Gender Equality’; and ‘The Cities We Want: Using Visionary Methodologies to Create Feminist Alternatives to Urban Planning’. My paper was in the ‘Precarity and Gender in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization’ and I focused on relational precarity as highlighted in the work of Lauren Berlant entitled: ‘Gender, Precarity and Sexuality: The Intersection of Gender, Ethnicity, Sexuality and Class in Relational Precarity in Neoliberal Society–the Influence of Lauren Berlant’. .

The double badging of sessions with RC32 with other RCs was a really valuable dimension of the conference, this was particularly the case for the RC02 Economy and Society led by the Program Coordinator, Heidi Gottfried, which included some excellent sessions including: ‘Gender Regimes or Gendered Institutions’ organised by Sylvia Walby. A particularly interesting session was the ‘Author Meets Critics: Crisis by Sylvia Walby’. Chaired by Heidi Gottfried and with discussants Stephanie Woehl (Vienna) and Christopher Chase-Dunn (California-Riverside). This proved to be one of the most coherent and intense social and political analyses including the focus on the EU and had anticipated Brexit. Sylvia’s response to criticism was powerful and wide-ranging and pointed to the next political crisis being in the EU not the UK. She also calls for a ‘regendering of the political project’.

This was a really fascinating conference, serious in its debates and commemorating the work and loss of John Urry.

Professor Ann Brooks

August 2016

1 September 2016

Congratulations to Prof. Brooks

Publishing, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to FHSS Prof. Ann Brooks on her latest academic article in the July issue of Cultural Politics. The article ‘The Cultural Production of Consumption as Achievement’ is co-authored with Lionel Wee.

Brooks, A. & Wee, L., The Cultural Production of Consumption as Achievement Cultural PoliticsCultural Politics (2016) 12 (2): 217-232

doi 10:10.1215/17432197-3592112

http://culturalpolitics.dukejournals.org/content/current

30 August 2016

Building Roman Britain: Project update

Fusion, HEIF, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer, Public engagement, Student Engagement dpitman

The Building Roman Britain project is investigating the source of stone and ceramic materials (e.g. bricks, tiles, flues, etc.) from key sites in Roman Britain. Using Roman Bath and Fishbourne Roman Palace as our main sites, we have been using x-ray floresence (XRF) to profile these materials and to look for patterns in their production, distribution and use. Funded by HEIF 5+1, the current phase of work will soon be concluded, although it is hoped to carry on with our partners over the coming year, producing joint publications as well as museum displays and interactives.

Analysing a quarry near Bath

We have now completed over 2400 analyses, a full GIS plan of the Fishbourne ‘92 excavations, and numerous visits to both Bath and Fishbourne to undertake in situ analysis, using a portable XRF device. The team was ably assisted in this work by the appointment of an URA, Dominique Druce, who is now planning her dissertation around a related pXRF study.

In early April the team presented a paper at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) conference in Oslo that focused on the analysis of ceramic building material and presented some interesting interim results. The paper was well received and the methods and approaches outlined stimulated some very useful discussion.

With an ever increasing mass of data it was decided to begin processing and interpreting the data alongside some lab-based analysis, with the aim of identifying the most promising areas on which to focus our final investigations. However, we still found time to visit Fishbourne and examine some of the in-situ mosaics. Meanwhile, the preliminary examination of data drove a renewed focus on exploring quarry sites in the Bath area and we have since returned to the quarries at Brown’s Folly near Bath to conduct intensive, quarry-face analyses.

As an offshoot from the project, Derek Pitman (the project’s RA) took the pXRF kit to the Purbeck School’s science fair along with members of BU’s STEM outreach team, where he was able to show how scientific methods help archaeologists understand ancient materials. Continuing with the public understanding of science theme, we are now working with our partners at Bath and Fishbourne Museums to develop new, innovative display methods for our results that will include the use of video and digital media to communicate project results and STEM to a wider audience.

While the summer of 2016 sees our HEIF 5+1 funding coming to an end, the Building Roman Britain team will carry on into 2017 in order to help bring the HEIF phase of the project to publication and to build the next phase of further investigations into Roman building materials. This includes our project’s inclusion in a multi-million pound bid to the HLF for redisplay work at Roman Bath Museum as part of their Archway Project. For further details, see our research project page.

23 August 2016

New paper by Dr. Pramod Regmi

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to FHSS’s Dr. Pramod Regmi on the publication of his latest paper in the SAARC Journal of Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases and HIV/AIDS under the title ‘Knowing is not enough: Migrant workers’ spouses vulnerability to HIV’ [1]. The paper was specifically highlighted in the editorial of the journal’s latest edition.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference

Aryal, N., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Dhungel, D., Ghale, G., Bhatta, G.K. (2016) Knowing is not enough: Migrant workers’ spouses vulnerability to HIV SAARC Journal of Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases & HIV/AIDS 8(1):9-15.

23 August 2016

Bringing FUSION to Nepal

Fusion, innovation, international, Knowledge Transfer, Publishing, Research Integritiy, student research, Training Edwin van Teijlingen

We have written in many previous BU blogs about progress of our THET-funded project in southern Nepal (e.g. here AND here ). Today’s blog reflects on the use on BU’s unique FUSION approach in our project ‘Mental Health Training for Maternity Care Providers in Nepal‘.

Our BU-led project brings highly experienced health professionals, such as midwives, health visitors or mental health nurses, to Nepal to work as volunteer trainers. The training is aimed at community-based maternity care practitioners and addresses key mental health issues relevant to pregnancy and for new mothers and offers the required communication skills. These health professionals will bring their experience as health care providers as well as trainers in the field of mental health and maternity care/midwifery, mental ill-health prevention and health promotion. They volunteer for two to three weeks at a time to design and deliver training in southern Nepal.

The Centre for Midwifery & Maternal Health (CMMPH) collaborates in this project with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the Department of Health, and Physical & Population Education at Nepal’s oldest university Tribhuvan University’s (TU). The project is supported in the field by a local charity called Green Tara Nepal. Our project is part of the Health Partnership such as Nepal. HPS itself is funded by the UK Department for International Development and managed by THET (Tropical and Health Education Trust).

Our maternal mental health project is a good example of BU’s FUSION approach as it combines EDUCATION (through the training of Auxiliary Nurse-Midwives in Nepal) by UK volunteers (representing PRACTICE) through an intervention which is properly evaluated (representing RESEARCH) is a perfect example of BU’s FUSION in action. Moreover, the project will be partly evaluated by FHSS’s Preeti Mahato as part of her PhD thesis research. This PhD project is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell (CEL & CMMPH), BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada (based at LJMU) and CMMPH’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.BU’s focus on the FUSION of research, education and professional practice is a unique variant of the way UK universities (and many abroad) blend academic teaching, research and scholarship. FUSION is a key concept derived from BU’s strategic Vision & Values).

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

16 August 2016

Informed consent in health research: new paper

international, Publishing, Research Ethics, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Congratulations to Dr. Pramod Regmi as the lead author of the paper ‘Informed consent in health research: challenges and barriers in low-and middle-income countries with specific reference to Nepal‘ [1]. Informed consent is a process whereby potential participants are genuinely informed about their role, risk and rights before they are enrolled in the study. Thus, ethics committees in most countries require ‘informed consent form’ as part of an ethics application which is reviewed before granting research ethics approval. Despite a significant increase in health research activity in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) in recent years, only limited work has been done to address ethical concerns.

Most ethics committees in LMICs lack the authority and/or the capacity to monitor research in the field. This is important since not all research, particularly in LMICs region, complies with ethical principles, sometimes this is inadvertently or due to a lack of awareness of their importance in assuring proper research governance. With several examples from Nepal, this paper reflects on the steps required to obtain informed consents and highlights some of the major challenges and barriers to seeking informed consent from research participants. The authors offer some recommendations around how can we can promote and implement optimal informed consent taking process.

The paper will appear later this year in the international journal Developing World Bioethics (publisher: Wiley). Finally, just out of interest five out of six of the authors are graduates of the University of Aberdeen!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

Regmi, P.R., Aryal, N., Kurmi, O., Pant, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Wasti, P.P. (2016) Informed consent in health research: challenges and barriers in low-and middle-income countries with specific reference to Nepal, Developing World Bioethics (Online HERE )

15 August 2016

Mental health project in Nepal highlighted in national media

conferences, international Edwin van Teijlingen

At the National Workshop on Mental Health Education & Research in Kathmandu organised by Tribhuvan University, Bournemouth University and Liverpool John Moores University last week we had quite a few television camera crews and journalists present. Sabitri Dhakal, one of the journalists from The Himalayan Times an English-language daily newspaper in Nepal, wrote a nice feature length article. This piece was based on interviews with BU Visiting Faculty Padam Simkhada and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen conducted at our workshop. Her article with the title ‘Understanding Mental Health’ is available online.

Mental health in pregnant women and new mothers is increasing recognised on the global health agenda. In Nepal mental health is generally a difficult to topic to discuss. THET, a London-based organisation, funded Bournemouth University, and Liverpool John Moores University in the UK and Tribhuvan University in Nepal to train community-based maternity workers on issues around mental health. Thus far three groups of UK health and education experts have gone out to Nepal to train these communit maternity care providers, called Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs). ANMs, who are the key maternity service providers in rural birthing centres of Nepal, have received only 18 months of training and the training curriculum does not refer to dealing with mental health issues. The next group of volunteers is due to travel in September.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

12 August 2016

100+ Nepal health publications

BRIAN, international, PG research, Publishing, Research assessment, Research Ethics, Training, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

At a television interview this morning in Kathmandu I was asked how many papers I had published on health and health-related issues in Nepal. I told the interviewer from BTV Business that it was around 90 to a hundred. Coming back to Green Tara Nepal office I decide to update the list of papers on Nepal to make sure I had not lied too much on TV.

Adding up the papers, editorials and, to a lesser extent, book chapters I was pleasantly surprised that there were 25 on maternity care & midwifery, 18 on sexual & reproductive health, nine on infectious diseases, five on non-communicable diseases, six on nutrition & child health, three on mental health, two on migration and a further mixture of 38 on topics such as health systems, research methods, or health & education capacity building. If I have not double counted any of the papers that a grand total of 106. Most are co-authored with BU Visiting Faculty Prof.Padam Simkhada (from Liverpool John Moores University), many with PhD students conducting projects in Nepal and, more recently with BU post-doctoral fellow Dr. Pramod Regmi.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference (by topic)

Maternal & Neonatal Health & Midwifery

Simkhada, B, van Teijlingen E, Porter, M, Simkhada, P. (2006) Major problems and key issues in Maternal Health in Nepal (Review article), Kathmandu University Medical Journal, 4(2): 261-266. kumj.com.np/ftp/issue/14/Major-problems-and-key-issues-in-maternal-health-in-Nepal.pdf
Dhakal, S., Chapman, G., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Stephens J., Raja, A.E. (2007) Utilisation of postnatal care among rural women in Nepal, BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 7(19). Web: biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2393-7-19.pdf
Simkhada, B., van Teijlingen E., Porter, M., Simkhada, P. (2008) Factors affecting the utilisation of antenatal care in developing countries: a systematic review of the literature, Journal of Advanced Nursing 61(3): 244-260.
Teijlingen van, E., Simkhada, P., Ireland, J. (2010) Lessons learnt from undertaking maternity-care research in developing countries. Evidence-based Midwifery 8(1): 12-6.
Simkhada, B., Porter, M., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) The role of mothers-in-law in antenatal care decision-making in Nepal: A qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 10(34) biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2393-10-34.pdf
Baral, Y.R, Lyons, K., Skinner, J, van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Determinants of skilled birth attendants for delivery in Nepal Kathmandu University Medical Journal 8(3): 325-332. http://www.kumj.com.np/issue/31/325-332.pdf
.Acharya, D.R., Bell, J., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Regmi, P.R. (2010) Women’s autonomy in decision-making for health care: A demographic study in Nepal. Reproductive Health 9(15) reproductive-health-journal.com/content/pdf/1742-4755-7-15.pdf
Dhakal, S., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Dhakal, K.B., Stephens J., Chapman, G., Raja, A.E. (2011) Antenatal care among women in rural Nepal: A community-based study. Online Journal of Rural Nursing & Health Care 11 (2): 76-87. http://rnojournal.binghamton.edu/index.php/RNO/article/view/20/17
Dhakal, S., van Teijlingen, E., Raja, A.E., Dhakal, K.B. (2011) Skilled care at birth among rural women in Nepal: practice & challenges Journal of Health, Population & Nutrition 29 (4): 371-378.
Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E, Sharma, G., Simkhada, B., Townend, J. (2012) User costs and informal payments for care in the largest maternity hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Health Science Journal 6(2): 317-334. hsj.gr/volume6/issue2/6212.pdf
Baral, Y.R, Lyons, K., Skinner, J, van Teijlingen, E.R. (2012) Maternal health services utilisation in Nepal: Progress in the new millennium? Health Science Journal 6(4): 618-633. hsj.gr/volume6/issue4/644.pdf
Joshi, R., Sharma, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2013) Improving neonatal health in Nepal: Major challenges to achieving Millennium Development Goal 4, Health Science Journal 7(3): 247-257. http://www.hsj.gr/index.files/Page1421.htm
Bogren, M., van Teijlingen, E., Berg. M. (2013) Where midwives are not yet recognised: A feasibility study of professional midwives in Nepal, Midwifery 29(10): 1103-1109.
Simkhada, B., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Porter, A.M., Wasti, S.P. (2014) Why do costs act as a barrier in maternity care for some, but not all women? A qualitative study in rural Nepal, International Journal of Social Economics 41 (8): 705-713.
Bogren, M.U., Bajracharya, K., Berg, M., Erlandsson, K., Ireland, J., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2013) Nepal needs midwifery, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (JMMIHS) 1(2): 41-44. nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/9907/8082
Simkhada, B., Sharma, A., van Teijlingen, E., Silwal, R.C., Simkhada, P. (2015) Exploring Maternal Mortality Reduction. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 95-121.
Simkhada, B., Porter, M., Teijlingen van E. (2011) My mother-in-law tells me what to do, Midwives (official magazine of the Royal College of Midwives) issue 4: 34-36.
Teijlingen van, E., Simkhada, B., Simkhada, P. (2013) Midwifery and maternity care in Nepal: the vital link, The Practising Midwife 16 (10): 24-27.
Milne, L., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Ireland, J. (2015) Staff perspectives of barriers to women accessing birthing services in Nepal: A qualitative study BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 15:142 biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/15/142
Sathian, B De A, Simkhada P, Malla K, Ghosh A, Basnet S, Roy B (2015) Time Trend of Pneumonia in under Five Children of Nepal. American Journal of Public Health Research 3 (4A), 27-30
Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1): 18-30. http://ecommons.aku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=jam
Mahato, P.K., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C., Sathian, B. (2015) Birthing centre infrastructure in Nepal post 2015 earthquake. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(4): 518-519. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/14260/11579
Sharma, S., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Angell, C., Simkhada, P. (2016) Dirty and 40 days in the wilderness: Eliciting childbirth and postnatal cultural practices and beliefs in Nepal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 147 https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-0938-4
Sharma, S., van Teijlingen, E., Belizán, J.M., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sicuri, E. (2016) Measuring What Works: An impact evaluation of women’s groups on maternal health uptake in rural Nepal, PLOS One 11(5): e0155144 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0155144
Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sharma, S., Mahato, P. (2016) Sustainable Development Goals: relevance to maternal & child health in Nepal. Health Prospect 15(1):9-10. www.healthprospect.org/archives/15/1/3.pdf

Sexual & Reproductive Health

Simkhada, P., Bhatta, P., van Teijlingen E. (2006) Importance of piloting a questionnaire on sexual health research (Letter), Wilderness & Environmental Medical Journal, 17(4): 295-296. wemjournal.org/wmsonline/?request=get-document&issn=1080-6032&volume=017&issue=04&page=0295#Ref
Simkhada, P., Bhatta, P., van Teijlingen E., Regmi, P. (2010) Sexual health knowledge, sexual relationships and condom use among male trekking guides in Nepal. Culture, Health & Sexuality 12(1): 45-58.
Acharya, D.R., van Teijlingen E.R., Simkhada P. (2009) Opportunities & challenges in school-based sex & sexual health education in Nepal. Kathmandu University Medical Journal 7(4): 445-453 Web: http://kumj.com.np/ftp/issue/28/445-453.pdf
Regmi P., Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen E. (2010) “Boys Remain Prestigious, Girls Become Prostitutes”: Socio-Cultural Context of Relationships & Sex among Young People in Nepal, Global Journal of Health Science 2(1): 60-72. http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/viewFile/3951/4542
Simkhada, B., Porter, M., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) The role of mothers-in-law in antenatal care decision-making in Nepal: A qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 10(34) biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2393-10-34.pdf
Baral, Y.R, Lyons, K., Skinner, J, van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Determinants of skilled birth attendants for delivery in Nepal Kathmandu University Medical Journal 8(3): 325-332. http://www.kumj.com.np/issue/31/325-332.pdf
Regmi, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E. (2010) Dating and Sex among Emerging Adults in Nepal. Journal of Adolescence Research 26 (6): 675-700.
Ghimire, L., van Teijlingen E. (2009) Barriers to utilisation of sexual health services by female sex workers in Nepal, Global Journal of Health Science 1(1): 12-22 web address: http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/viewFile/93/1062
Regmi, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen (2008) Sexual and reproductive health status among young people in Nepal: opportunities & barriers for sexual health education & service utilisation, Kathmandu University Medical Journal 6(2): 248-256. http://kumj.com.np/ftp/issue/22/248-256.pdf
Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, P., Acharya, D. (2010) Barriers to sexual health services for young people in Nepal. Journal of Health Population & Nutrition 28: 619-627.
Acharya, D.R., Bhattarai, R, Poobalan, A, van Teijlingen E.R., Chapman, G. (2010) Factors associated with teenage pregnancy in South Asia: a systematic review. Health Sciences Journal 4 (1): 3-14. web address: hsj.gr/volume4/issue1/402.pdf
Ghimire, L., Smith, W.C.S., van Teijlingen, E. (2011) Utilisation of sexual health services by female sex workers in Nepal, BMC Health Services Research 11: 79 biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-6963-11-79.pdf
Ghimire, L., Smith, W.C.S., van Teijlingen, E., Dahal, R., Luitel, N.P. (2011) Reasons for non- use of condoms and self-efficacy among female sex workers: A qualitative study in Nepal, BMC Women’s Health 11: 42 biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-6874-11-42.pdf
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Acharya, D.R., Schildbach, E., Silwa, P.R., Shrestha, J., Pandey, P.L. (2012) Sexual and reproductive health of adolescents in rural Nepal: Knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Nepal Population Journal 17(16): 3-10.
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P., Bhatta, P., Ingham, R., Stone, N. (2015) Sexual health knowledge and risky sexual behaviour of Nepalese trekking guides. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 1(4): 35-42
Acharya, D.R., Regmi, P., Simkhada, P. van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Modernisation and Changes in Attitudes towards Sex and Relationships in Young People. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 63-94.
Simkhada, P.P., Sharma, A., van Teijlingen, E.R., Beanland, R,L. (2016) Factors influencing sexual behaviour between tourists and tourism employees: A systematic review. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 6(1): 530-538. nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/14735/11952
Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Importance of Health and Social Care Research into Gender and Sexual Minority Populations in Nepal. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 27(8): 806-808. http://aph.sagepub.com/content/27/8/806.full

Infectious diseases

Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E. (2009) Antiretroviral treatment programmes in Nepal: Problems and barriers. Kathmandu University Medical Journal 7(3): 306-314 web address: http://kumj.com.np/ftp/issue/27/306-314.pdf
Wasti, S.P., Randal, J., Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E. (2011) In what way do Nepalese cultural factors affect adherence to antiretroviral treatment in Nepal? Health Science Journal 5(1): 37-47.
Wasti, S.P., van Teijlingen E., Simkhada, P., Randall, J., Baxter, S., Kirkpatrick, P., Vijay Singh Gc. (2012) Factors influencing adherence to antiretroviral treatment in Asian developing countries: a systematic review, Tropical Medicine & International Health 17(1): 71-81. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2011.02888.x/pdf
Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P., Randall, J., van Teijlingen, E., Freeman, J. (2012) Factors influencing adherence to antiretroviral treatment in Nepal: a mixed-methods study. PLoS ONE 7(5): e35547. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035547. plosone.org/article/fetchArticle;jsessionid=9F031521BFD51A9FA385083CE75F8072?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035547
Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2012) Ethical and Practical Challenges in Conducting Fieldwork on a Sensitive Topic (HIV) in Nepal, In: Loubere, N., Morgan, R., Kruckenberg, L., De Beukelaer, C. & Hernandez Montes De Oca, P. (eds.) RiDNET Practical Fieldwork Notes, Leeds: Researchers in Development Network (RiDNet), University of Leeds,Vol.1: 9.
Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P., Randall, J., van Teijlingen, E., Freeman, J. (2012) Barriers to & facilitators of antiretroviral therapy adherence in Nepal: a qualitative study. Journal of Health, Population & Nutrition 30(4): 410-419. jhpn.net/index.php/jhpn/article/view/1492/893
Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2012) Media use for Health Promotion: Communicating Childhood Immunisation Messages to Parents. Journal of Health Promotion 4(1): 1-9.
Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) (2015) Socio-Cultural Aspects of HIV/AIDS. In: The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 47-62.
Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P, Randall, J., van Teijlingen E. (2009) Issues & Challenges of HIV/AIDS Prevention & Treatment Programme in Nepal, Global Journal of Health Science 1(2): 62-72. http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/viewFile/2460/3474

Non-Communicable Diseases

Adhikary, P., Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen E., Raja, A.E. (2008) Health and Lifestyle of Nepalese Migrants in the UK BMC International Health and Human Rights 8(6). Web address: biomedcentral.com/1472-698X/8/6.
Gyawali, B., Keeling, J., van Teijlingen, E., Dhakal. L., Aro, A.R. (2015) Cervical Cancer Screening: Ethical Consideration, Medicolegal & Bioethics 5: 1-6
Gyawali, B., Neupane, D., Sharma, R., Mishra, S.R., van Teijlingen, E., Kallestrup, P. (2015) Prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Nepal: Systematic review & meta-analysis from 2000 to 2014 Global Health Action 8: 29088 globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/29088/pdf_189
Sathian, B. , De, A. ,van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. , Banerjee, I. , Roy, B. , Supram, H. , Devkota, S. , E, R. (2015). Time Trend of the Suicide Incidence in India: a Statistical Modelling. American Journal of Public Health Research, 3(5A), 80-87. http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajphr/3/5A/17/index.html
Regmi, P.R., Kurmi, O., Aryal, N., Pant, P.P., Banstola, A., Alloh, F., van Teijlingen, E., (2016) Diabetes prevention and management in South Asia: A call for action. International Journal of Food, Nutrition & Public Health (IJFNPH) 8(2): 107-116. http://www.wasd.org.uk/download/diabetes-prevention-and-management-in-south-asia-a-call-for-action/

Nutrition & Child Development

Singh, S., Rajendra Kumar, B., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E. (2007) Health status & health needs of the orphan children in Kathmandu, Nepal, Journal of Nepal Health Research Council 5(2): 39-48.
Singh, S., van Teijlingen E.R., Simkhada, P. (2007) Health status and health needs of the orphan children in Kathmandu, Nepal: The findings of a pilot study, Stupa: Journal of Health Sciences 3 (1&2): 44-54.
Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2013) Childhood Immunisation in Nepal: Parents’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour & implications for Health Policy. Health Science Journal 7(4):370-383.hsj.gr/volume7/issue4/743.pdf
Acharya, J., van Teijlingen, E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District in Nepal, Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare 1(2): 97-118. http://dspace.chitkara.edu.in/jspui/bitstream/1/560/1/12007_JMRH_Acharya.pdf
Subedi, Y.P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2016) Where is Nepal in the Demographic Transition within the wider context of the Nutrition Transition? Open Journal of Social Sciences 4: 155-166. http://file.scirp.org/pdf/JSS_2016052310320947.pdf
Simkhada, P., Sathian, B., Adhikari, S., van Teijlingen, E., Roy, B. (2015) Is early diagnose for Vitamin A deficiency better than the current supplementation programme of Nepal? Journal of Biomedical Sciences 2(4):28-30. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JBS/index

Mental Health

Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Winter, R.C., Fanning, C., Dhungel, A., Marahatta S.B. (2015) Why are so many Nepali women killing themselves? A review of key issues Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 4(1): 43-49.
Simkhada, P.P., van Teijlingen, E., Marahatta, S.B. (2015) Mental health services in Nepal: Is it too late? Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 1(4): 1-2.
van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Devkota, B., Fanning, P., Ireland, J., Simkhada, B., Sherchan, L., Silwal, R.C., Pradhan, S., Maharjan, S.K., Maharjan, R.K. (2015) Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(3): 499-501. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/13607/11007

Migration / Occupational Health

Adhikary, P., Keen, S., van Teijlingen, E. (2011) Health Issues among Nepalese migrant workers in the Middle East. Health Science Journal 5: 169-175. hsj.gr/volume5/issue3/532.pdf
Sapkota, T., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Nepalese health workers’ migration to the United Kingdom: A qualitative study. Health Science Journal 8(1): 57-74.

Other (including: health systems, research methods, capacity building)

Simkhada, P, Shyangdan, D, van Teijlingen E, Kadel, S, Stephen, J., Gurung, T. (2013) Women’s Knowledge & Attitude towards Disability in Rural Nepal. Disability & Rehabilitation 35(7): 606-613. http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09638288.2012.702847
van Teijlingen, E.R., Simkhada, B, Ireland J, Simkhada P, Bruce J. (2012) Evidence-based health care in Nepal: The importance of systematic reviews, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 1(4): 114-118.
Kirkpatrick, P., van Teijlingen E. (2009) Lost in Translation: Reflecting on a Model to Reduce Translation and Interpretation Bias, The Open Nursing Journal, 3(8): 25-32 web address: bentham.org/open/tonursj/openaccess2.htm
van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Stephen, J., Simkhada, B., Woodes Rogers, S., Sharma, S. (2012) Making the best use of all resources: developing a health promotion intervention in rural Nepal. Health Renaissance 10(3): 229-235. healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/7141_24852_1_PB.pdf
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Pokharel, T., Devkota, B., Pathak, R.S. (2013) Research Methods Coverage in Medical & Health Science Curricula in Nepal, Nepal Journal Epidemiology 3(3): 253-258. nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/9185
van Teijlingen E.R., Simkhada, P.P. (2012) Ethical approval in developing countries is not optional, Journal of Medical Ethics 38: 428-430.
Devkota, B., van Teijlingen, E. (2012) “Why did they join?” Exploring the motivation of rebel health workers in Nepal Journal of Conflictology 3(1): 18-29. http://journals.uoc.edu/index.php/journal-of-conflictology/article/viewFile/vol3iss1-joc/vol3iss1-joc
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Devkota, B., Pathak, R.S., Sathian, B. (2014) Accessing research literature: A mixed-method study of academics in Higher Education Institutions in Nepal, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 4(4): 405-14. nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/11375
van Teijlingen, E, Simkhada, P., Wasti, P.P. (2015) Nepal is Changing: Modernisation and Diversity in Healthcare. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 1-15.
Devkota, B., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Exploring Rebel Health Services during the Maoist People’s War. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 122-130.
Devkota, S., Maharjan, H.M., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Media and Health. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 169-184.
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Wasti, S.P. (2015) Final thoughts. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 222-228.
Devkota, B., van Teijlingen E. (2007) Basic health as peace dividend in post-conflict Nepal, Journal of HEPASS, 3(1): 21-23.
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Higher education in Nepal: Several challenges ahead. Diaspora, 3 (1): 44-47.
Simkhada, P., Baral, Y.R., van Teijlingen E. (2010) Health & Medical Research: A Bibliometric Review, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 22(4): 492-500 web address http://aph.sagepub.com/content/22/4/492.full.pdf+html
Devkota, B., van Teijlingen E. (2010) Demystifying the Maoist Barefoot Doctors of Nepal, Medicine, Conflict & Survival 26(2): 108-123.
Devkota, B., van Teijlingen, E. (2010) Understanding effects of armed conflict on health outcomes: the case of Nepal. Conflict & Health 4 (20) http://www.conflictandhealth.com/content/4/1/20
van Teijlingen E., Simkhada, B., Porter, M., Simkhada, P., Pitchforth, E., Bhatta, P. (2011) Qualitative research methods and its place in health research in Nepal, Kathmandu University Medical Journal 9(4): 301-305.
van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Stephen, J. (2013) Doing focus groups in the health field: Some lessons from Nepal, Health Prospect 12(1): 15-17. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/HPROSPECT/article/view/8722/7111
Neupane, D., van Teijlingen, E., Khanal, V., Mishra, S.R., Kallestrup, P. (2013) Involving Nepali academics in health research Health Prospect 12 (2): 21-23. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/HPROSPECT/article/view/9868/8056
van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sathian, B. (2014) Finding the right title for your article: Advice for academic authors, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 4(1): 344-347.
Devkota, B., van Teijlingen E. (2009) Politicians in Apron: Case study of Rebel Health Services in Nepal, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 21(4): 377-384.
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Kadel, S., Stephens, J., Sharma, S., Sharma, M. (2009) Reliability of National Data Sets: Evidence from a Detailed Small Area Study in Rural Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Asian Journal of Epidemiology 2(2): 44-48.
Bhatta, P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Maybin, S. (2009) A questionnaire study of VSO volunteers: Health risk & problems encountered. Journal of Travel Medicine 16(5): 332-337.
P., Teijlingen van, E. (2012) Role of Individual Academics & International Universities in Health Research in Nepal (Guest Editorial), Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 2(2): 179-181. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/6572/5364
van Teijlingen, E., Benoit, C., Bourgeault, I., DeVries, R., Sandall, J., Wrede, S. (2015) Learning from health care in other countries: the prospect of comparative research, Health Prospect 14(1): 8-12. nepjol.info/index.php/HPROSPECT/article/view/13036/10525
Ireland, J., van Teijlingen, E., Kemp, J. (2015) Twinning in Nepal: the Royal College of Midwives UK and the Midwifery Society of Nepal working in partnership, Journal of Asian Midwives 2 (1): 26-33. http://ecommons.aku.edu/jam/vol2/iss1/5/
Sharma, S., Joshi, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) ‘Nepenglish’ or ‘Nepali English’: A new version of English? Asian Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences 4(2): 188-193. ajssh.leena-luna.co.jp/AJSSHPDFs/Vol.4%282%29/AJSSH2015%284.2-21%29.pdf
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Wasti, S.P., Sathian, B. (2014) Mixed-methods approaches in health research in Nepal (editorial) Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 4(5): 415-416.
Sharma, A, Tuladhar, G., Dhungel, A., Padmadharini, van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2015) Health Promotion: A review of policies and practices in Nepal, Public Health Perpective 5(2): http://phpnepal.org/index.php?listId=941#.VO4Qvn9tXkd
Simkhada, P., Lee, A., van Teijlingen, E., Karki, P., Neupane, C.H. (2015) Need and importance of health protection training in Nepal, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology (editorial) 5(1): 441-43. nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/12373/10032
Pant, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. (2015) Importance of public health in low- and middle- income countries. In: Vaidya, K., ed. (2015) Public Health for the Curious: Why Study Public Health? Canberra: The Curious Academic Publishing. ISBN 9781925128581
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Pant, P.R., Sathian, B., Tuladhar, G. (2015) Public Health, Prevention & Health Promotion in Post-Earthquake Nepal, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(2): 462-464. nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/12826
Simkhada, P., Regmi, P.R., Pant, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Sathian, B. (2015) Stipulating citizens’ fundamental right to healthcare: Inference from the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nepal 2015. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(4); 516-517. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/14257/11576
Regmi, P.R., Aryal, N., Pant, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Devkota, B. (2015) Priority public health interventions and research agendas in post-earthquake Nepal. South East Asia Journal of Public Health 5(2): 7-12. http://www.banglajol.info/index.php/SEAJPH/article/view/28307/18835
Sahay, G., Devkota, B., van Teijlingen, E.R. (2016) Rebel Health Services in South Asia: Comparing Maoist-led Conflicts in India & Nepal, Sociological Bulletin 65(1):19-39.
Regmi, P.R., Aryal, N., van Teijlingen, E. (2016) Childbirth in the exam centres in Nepal: An overlooked Public Health issue!, Health Prospect 15(1): 20-21. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/HPROSPECT/article/view/14745/11954
van Teijlingen, E., Sathian, B., & Simkhada, P. (2016). Zika & Nepal: a far greater risk for its population than to individuals. Medical Science 4(2): 312-313. http://www.pubmedhouse.com/journals/ms/articles/1064/PMHID1064.pdf

11 August 2016

THET maternal mental health training in Kathmandu

conferences, international, Public engagement, Training Edwin van Teijlingen

Today we completed the second day of training of health teachers, lecturers in nursng, public health and the like in Kathmandu. We called it the National Workshop on Mental Health Education & Research and this two-day workshop was held in a hotel in Kathmandu. It was organised by Tribhuvan University in collaboration with Bournemouth University and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). Mental health is high on the global agenda and want to raise the issue more in Nepal. The three universities are working together on an education intervention training Auxiliary Nurse Midwives in Nawalparasi on mental health issues and mental health promotion. The project is funded under the Health Partnership Scheme (HPS) from DfID and managed by THET (Tropical Health & Education Trust).

Key speakers on the first day of the workshop included: the VC of Tribhuvan University, Dr Gangalal Tuladhar MP and former Education Minister of Nepal, Dr Khem Karki (head of the Nepal Health Research Council), Dr Chandra Kala Sharma, Prof Shyam Krishna Maharjan and Prof Krishna Acharya.

This workshop is part of this capacity building process and the audience of largely university and college lecturers will take some of the learning back with them to improve the education of health workers in Nepal.

The second day of the workshop concentrateed on research methods for community-based projects such as this our THET funded one in the mental health field. Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen reminded the audience that it is important that novel mental health interventions like ours are properly evaluated, and that the people doing the evaluations have the appropriate research skills. The next group of UK volunteers are due to travel to Nepal in September.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

11 August 2016

Public Health in Nepal: Vitamine A

international, open access, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we published an editorial in the Journal of Biomedical Sciences on the question: “Is early diagnose for Vitamin A deficiency better than the current supplementation programme of Nepal?”
The editorial concludes that prevention is still better than cure, but instead of a mass Vitamin A supplementation in Nepal, we need a health promotion intervention aiming to increase the intake of relatively cheap vegetables and fruit (containing β carotene). In addition we need better surveillance and help to identify children with Vitamin A Deficiency and provide them with Vitamin A supplements. The primary focus should be on adopting sustainable food based approaches to combat vitamin A deficiency. In Public Health terms: rather than a blanket coverage of Vitamin A supplementation to whole population we should consider a targeted intervention aimed at those who need it most.

Reference:
Simkhada P, Sathian B, Adhikari S, van Teijlingen E, Roy B. (2015) Is early diagnose for Vitamin A deficiency better than the current supplementation programme of Nepal?. J Biomed Sci. 2(4):28-30.
http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JBS/index

5 August 2016

Security by Design through “Human Centered” Specification Exemplars

Fusion, Fusion Investment Fund Shamal Faily

A year ago, we received Fusion funding to build the Bournemouth-Athens Network in Critical Infrastructure Security. The aim of this project was to build collaborative links between the BU Cyber Security Research group and the Information Security & Critical Infrastructure Protection Laboratory at Athens University of Economics & Business (AUEB). We built these links by working on a joint project, which we advanced through visits and other activities.

The aim of our joint activities was to build human-centered specification exemplars of Critical Infrastructure (CI) operating environments.
We depend on infrastructure associated with things like water, gas, electricity, or transport, but the criticality of such infrastructure is usually lost on us because it fades into the background of our everyday lives. The damage or loss of such infrastructure is only felt when it becomes unavailable, and its significance can range from mild annoyance if its means the trains are late, through to civil disorder and loss of life if we are unable to access clean water for a prolonged period. Despite their importance, there are no useful models of environments that people can use when developing or evaluating technology for CI. Our work aimed to remedy this by building specification exemplars for typical CI companies. In doing so, these would capture the human nuances associated with different aspects of CI, and help people identify possible security issues associated with new ideas before, rather than after, they are deployed in the field.

Together, a team of BU and AUEB researchers carried out work to build two specification exemplars of hypothetical CI companies. One of these was a UK Water Company (ACME Water). The other was a rail company in South East Europe (Balkan Rail). BU hosted researchers from AUEB and ran a number of workshops to identify different security aspects of these companies. In return, AUEB hosted BU undergraduate research assistants as they collected data from a Greek CI company, and ran workshops to develop and evaluate different aspects of the exemplars with AUEB researchers.

The exemplars have been made publicly available, and are modelled using CAIRIS – an open-source security design tool maintained by researchers at BU. To date, several publications have so far arisen from our preliminary work building [1] and applying the ACME Water exemplar [2, 3, 4]. We’re also using the exemplars as part of our teaching to provide case studies for Forensic & Computer Security lab exercises and seminars. Although the studies provided are hypothetical, they are grounded in real world data, and make visible to students the root causes of a variety of cybersecurity risks.

Looking forward, our work has gained the interest of a number of UK and international collaborators, and we’re looking for opportunities to build a library of human-cantered specification exemplars for many other, non-CI, environments. Such environments might include homes, and different types of ‘soft target’. Our long term aim is to make sure people don’t design security as an afterthought. Our work on BANCIS has made a small, but significant, step towards achieving this goal.

References

[1] S. Faily, G. Lykou, A. Partridge, D. Gritzalis, A. Mylonas, and V. Katos, “Human-Centered Specification Exemplars for Critical Infrastructure Environments,” in Proceedings of the 30th British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers, 2016.

[2] S. Faily, C. Iacob, and S. Field, “Ethical Hazards and Safeguards in Penetration Testing,” in Proceedings of the 30th British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Fusion, 2016.

[3] D. Ki-Aries, S. Faily, and K. Beckers, “Persona-Driven Information Security Awareness,” in Proceedings of the 30th British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Fusion, 2016.

[4] A. Partridge and S. Faily, “The application of useless japanese inventions for requirements elicitation in information security,” in Proceedings of the 30th British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Fusion, 2016.

5 August 2016

Health Promotion intervention planning in rural Nepal

international, PG research, student research, Training Edwin van Teijlingen

Today and yesterday Green Tara Nepal (GTN) staff spent discussing and planning their health promotion intervention in the district of Dhading. The sessions included feedback by the GTN on progress to-date as well as a discussion of their perceptions of the various relevant health needs in the community. BU has been working with GTN for over seven years. [1] Yesterday BU professor Edwin van Teijlingen gave an interactive workshop on communication skills. This morning BU’s Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) outlined key health promotion concepts and theories to the fieldworkers.

This particular post-disaster health promotion project grew out of years of research-based interventions run by GTN and the needs seen in areas affected by last years’ serious earthquakes in Nepal. The project has received support from various funding agencies, including Green Tara Trust, a London-based Buddhist charity. The training is being held in Dhadingbesi, about four hours drive away from the capital Kathmandu. The various photos with this blog show the results of a social mapping exercise. These included some beautifully hand-drawn maps of the individual wards in the area, indicating where the health post is situated, but more importantly the house of currently pregnant women.

Several GTN project have been, or ar currently, evaluated by FHSS Ph.D. students. The GTN project in Pharping has been evaluated by Sheetal Sharma, who has published several papers from this research.[2-4] The GTN project in Nawalparasi is currently being studied by Preeti Mahato, who has also already published from her thesis research despite being less than halfway through. [5] Prof. Padam Simkhada is external supervisor for both these BU Ph.D students.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P, Stephen J, Simkhada B, Woodes Rogers S, Sharma S. (2012) Making the best use of all resources: developing a health promotion intervention in rural Nepal. Health Renaissance 10(3): 229-235. healthrenaissance.org.np/uploads/7141_24852_1_PB.pdf
Sharma, S., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Angell, C., Simkhada, P. (2016) Dirty and 40 days in the wilderness: Eliciting childbirth and postnatal cultural practices and beliefs in Nepal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 147 https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-0938-4
Sharma, S., van Teijlingen, E., Belizán, J.M., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sicuri, E. (2016) Measuring What Works: An impact evaluation of women’s groups on maternal health uptake in rural Nepal, PLOS One 11(5): e0155144 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0155144
Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sharma, S., Mahato, P. (2016) Sustainable Development Goals: relevance to maternal & child health in Nepal. Health Prospect 15(1):9-10. healthprospect.org/archives/15/1/3.pdf
Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1): 18-30. http://ecommons.aku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=jam
Mahato, P.K., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C., Sathian, B. (2015) Birthing centre infrastructure in Nepal post 2015 earthquake. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(4): 518-519. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/14260/11579

5 August 2016

THET-project planning meeting in Kathmandu

Fusion, international, Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

This week we had our latest planning meeting for the BU-led and THET-funded project in Nepal. The project has been running for over a year (following a six-month delay due to the terrible 2015 earthquake in Nepal). The project brings highly experienced UK health volunteers to train local community-based maternity care practitioners about the key mental health issues in pregnancy and after birth. The Centre for Midwifery & Maternal Health (CMMPH) works in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the Department of Health, Physical and Population Education at Nepal’s largest university Tribhuvan University’s (TU). Our project is part of the Health Partnership Scheme (HPS), which funds health partnerships to carry out capacity-building projects in low-income countries, including Nepal. HPS itself is funded by the UK Department for International Development and managed by THET.

Halfway through the project we had an update meeting at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu to discuss and plan the second half of the project which runs until the spring in 2017. The maternal mental health project is a good example of BU’s FUSION approach as it combines Education (through the training of Auxiliary Nurse-Midwives) by UK volunteers (representing the Practice-element of FUSION) in an intervention that is Research-based in both its design and evaluation. The next group of UK volunteers is due to go out to southern Nepal in September 2016. The photo on the top shows one of the UK volunteers (a midwife from Aberdeen) in action with the aid of a Nepali translator during the latest training session in Nawalparasi in May 2016.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (CMMPH) and Prof. Padam Simkhada (LJMU & BU Visiting Faculty)

29 July 2016

Fieldwork preparation in Nepal

international, PG research Edwin van Teijlingen

If you have a number of research projects running in the same location it pays to combine some of the preparation. Thus as part of five different studies and one PhD project, I’m currently in Kathmandu. The projects are (1) the THET-funded intervention in Nawalparasi; (2) the CEL-funded qualitative research led by Dr. Catherine Angell on CPD (Continuous Professional Development); (3) the FHSS-funded project on transgender which is led by Dr. Pramod Regmi; (4) the FHSS-funded project with Pourakhi which supports Nepali women returning home after having been abroad as migrant workers; and (5) the Green Tara Trust funded project on improving maternal health care in Dhading and Nawalparasi, and the FHSS PhD project is that of Mrs. Preeti Mahato. Two of the project and the PhD topcic are closely related as all three cover maternity care in one for or another in Nawalparasi. The planning meetings we are having in Nepal involve planning training sessions and workshops, resource allocation and research preparation.

Fortunately, it is not all work. Today I enjoyed Kheer (Achar and Chana) for lunch in the Green Tara flat in Kathmandu a lovely rice pudding with slightly sour green vegetables and chick peas (see photo). The actual meal is traditionally health tomorrow but as this is the weekend the staff brought it one day forward so that I could join in too.

Finally, I like to thank colleagues who gave me mobile phones and a camera. One of the mobile phones is already in use by one of the Nepali charity workers in Kathmandu. I bought a new battery and memory card for camera in the UK and it is working fine, the photo with this blog has been taken with the donated camera!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (writing from Nepal).

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