On Thursday 14th April Dr. Bibha Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University & BU Visiting Faculty) and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen presented their education research in Liverpool. The work is part of a THET-funded project at the 14th Britain-Nepal Academic Council (BNAC) Nepal Study Days. The presentation ‘Mental Health Training and Education in Nepal‘ is part of an international project led by Bournemouth University. BU collaborates with Tribhuvan University (Nepal’s largest & oldest university) and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). The project receives funding from DFID, and is managed through THET and supported locally in Nepal by a non-governmental organisation called Green Tara Nepal. The project takes UK volunteers, people with experience in midwifery, mental health, higher education, nursing, health visiting, etc. to the southern part of Nepal.
Mental health is a difficult topic to discuss in Nepal (as it often is in the UK). This makes it hard for front-line health workers, especially non-mental health specialists, to start a discussion about mental health issues with patients.
As part of this THET-funded programme to train community health worker such as Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) on mental health issues related to pregnancy, we conducted a review of all relevant health curricula in Nepal. The key findings are that mental health issues in pregnancy and childbirth are often lacking in the curricula for both nurses and ANMs as a result community-based staff lack training in this topic. There is a great need for a curriculum to facilitate relevant training for ANMs.
We would like to repeat our call for volunteers. If you are a health or education professional with an interest in mental health and/or maternity care and you are interested in volunteering later this year for a week to ten days in Nepal please contact Edwin van Teijlingen (evteijlingen@bournemouth.ac.uk ).
Since his arrival in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences last year postdoctoral researcher Dr. Pramod Regmi has been busy getting his publications out. Yesterday saw the latest of his articles appear in print, this time in the latest issue of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology. The editorial, co-authored with Dr. Om Kurmi (University of Oxford) and Dr. Puspa R. Pant at the University of the West of England, addresses the growing problem air pollution in low-income countries such as Nepal. The paper is called: ‘
The April issue of the Journal of Neonatal Nursing will publish the latest article written by a combination of Faculty of Health & Social Sciences staff and Visiting Faculty. The paper ‘Experiences of fathers with babies admitted to neonatal care units: A review of the literature’ 
Our latest paper in the international journal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth published late last month was highlighted yesterday in a 
Our paper is great example of interdisciplinary research, as celebrated at the forthcoming Interdisciplinary Research Sector Day on June 21st (
Doing a PhD may appeal to midwives and other NHS health professionals, but it often involves having to make difficult choices. Undertaking a part-time PhD means studying on top of a busy clinical position, but starting full-time study involves stepping away from practice, which may lead to a loss of clinical skills and confidence. The Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) at Bournemouth University has come up with a novel solution making it easier for midwives to undertake a doctorate while still maintaining their clinical skills. This approach is highlighted in the latest publication by Dr. Susan Way and colleagues, describing a process where CMMPH collaborate with NHS partners to apply for a match-funded PhD. [1] The first partnership was with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (PHT), with later partners expanded to cover the Isle of Wight and Southampton. Currently there are negotiations with Dorset Country Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Non NHS organisations have also showed an interest with the Anglo European Chiropractic College (AECC) our likely next collaborator.
This first week of March has been a good week for FHSS publications. On March 1st CMMPH Prof. Vanora Hundley published her collaborative paper ‘Do Cochrane summaries help student midwives understand the findings of Cochrane systematic reviews: the BRIEF randomised trial’.[1] With colleagues based across the UK and Ireland she surveyed over 800 midwifery students at nine universities. This results of the study can be found in the journal 
The second FHSS publication is a chapter in a Kindle book on the Importance of public health in low- and middle- income countries, written by Dr. Puspa Raj Pant,CMMPH’s Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, and BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada.[2] Padam Simkhada is Professor of International Public Health and Associate Dean (Global Engagement) for the Faculty of Education, Health and Community at Liverpool John Moores University. The chapter is part of the Kindle book with the long title: Public Health for the Curious: Why Study Public Health? (A Decision-Making Guide to College Major, Research & Scholarships, and Career Success for the College Students and Their Parents) edited by Richard Lee Skolnik from Yale University, USA.
Conversation article: London Marathon – how visually impaired people run
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