	KINTAMPO HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE(KHRC)



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KHRC:First and currently the only ESG of the JBI operating within the boundaries of Ghana

Posted:24 October, 2008

The Kintampo Health Research Centre - Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence Synthesis Group (KHRC-JBI ESG) came into existence in September, 2007 after a team of three comprising Livesy Abokyi, George Adjei and Yeetey Enuameh were trained in evidence synthesis by the JBI in Cape Town, South Africa. The training was sponsored by the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR). KHRC is privileged and honoured to be the first and currently the only ESG of the JBI operating within the boundaries of Ghana.

The KHRC-JBI ESG has since its inception been working hard to attain the status of an Evidence Synthesis Centre (ESC). In order to become an ESC, the team had to publish a systematic review on a health related condition. The team is currently working on its first review entitled: “The Experience of Living with Co-Morbidities of Chronic Lymphatic Filariasis among Patients 15 Years and Older in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review”, after the initial protocol was peer reviewed, accepted and published on the JBI website. KHRC is leaving no stone unturned to complete the review on schedule to be able to get it published by the year 2009 so as to become an ESC. Attaining the status of an ESC would provide the centre with the capacity to gradually involve interested members of the KHRC fraternity in the evidence synthesis activities of the group. Newly recruited members would be taken through a training course to become certified reviewers for the JBI, just like the initial team members. A bigger group with diverse research interests would of course in the long term help to broaden the scope and depth of operations as well as the areas of potential reviews to be carried out by the ESC.

Evidence synthesis has a lot of advantages for those engaged in it. This process helps to generate information from multiple research publications for practitioners in an area of practice; it can as well serve as a source of information on areas that have not been well researched and in need of further attention and emphasis. From our little experience as a team, this programme is worthwhile as it adds a lot to the research capabilities of the individuals involved. The team is in the process of establishing a well-respected ESC in KHRC.

The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) is an international not-for-profit research and development unit of the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the University of Adelaide in Adelaide, Australia. The JBI has several collaborating centres across the globe and they together promote and support the generation, synthesis, transfer and utilization of evidence to enhance improved health outcomes the world over. Currently in Africa, there is only one Evidence Synthesis Centre (ESC) in Durban, South Africa. A number of Evidence Synthesis Groups (ESG) has been set up across Africa, with our group among the first five to be trained.

More information on the JBI can be found at www.joannabriggs.edu.au.

Compiled by the KHRC-JBI ESG.

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