BU Research Blog

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

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)

27 July 2016

Consortium on Global Health Research established

Public engagement Edwin van Teijlingen

Prof. Padam Simkhada (Visiting Faculty at FHSS) brought together a group of like-minded health researchers from South Asia and Africa at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). The overseas’ researchers came from India (Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences), Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), Nepal (Green Tara Trust) and Nigeria (Bayero University, Kano). They were joined by UK researchers based at the University of Oxford, the University of the West of England, LJMU and Bournemouth University, who are engaged in the field of health and development research.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

20 May 2016

Congratulations to Dr. Pramod Regmi and BU PhD student Folashade Alloh

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

Diabetes prevention and management in South Asia: A call for action

Today the International Journal of Food, Nutrition and Public Health accepted our paper Diabetes prevention and management in South Asia: A call for action for publication [1]. The Public Health paper argues that is an urgent need to reduce the diabetes prevalence in South Asia through evidence-based interventions ranging from prevention and early detection to appropriate treatment and care. The authors suggest that a multi-sectorial collaboration across all stakeholders is necessary to raise awareness about diabetes, its prevention, treatment and care in the region. The paper, with Dr. Pramod Regmi as lead author, is co-authored with colleagues at the University of Oxford, the University of Otago (NZ), University of the West of England, and, Bournemouth University, including BU PhD student Folashade Alloh.

Reference:

Regmi, P.R., Kurmi, O., Aryal, N., Pant P.R., Banstola, A., Alloh, F., van Teijlingen, E. Diabetes prevention and management in South Asia: A call for action International Journal of Food Nutrition and Public Health (forthcoming).

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Congratulations to Dr. Pramod Regmi and BU PhD student Folashade Alloh

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