Evidence for Action have been shortlisted for a British Medical Journal award on Getting Research into Practice. This is for the programme's work as part of the Sexual Health and HIV Evidence into Practice (SHHEP) Group. SHHEP were nominated by the Department for International Development, and were one of 4 groups shortlisted from the 127 groups that were nominated. The winners of this prestigious award will be announced at the BMJ Group Awards Ceremony on 10th March.
Evidence for Action have been working with other research programmes on HIV and SRH to explore how researchers can get their research into policy and practice. Researchers from Africa, Asia and UK have been sharing their experiences, and a special Health Insights was published with key case studies from the work. This includes an article by Eleanor Hutchinson on the policy analysis Evidence for Action have done on how evidence on cotrimoxazole prophylaxis has influenced policy in Zambia, Uganda and Malawi.
DART trial shows life-saving ART can be delivered in Africa without routine laboratory monitoring
Thursday, 10 December 2009
A paper published in the Lancet this week shows that routine laboratory monitoring of people on ART is not necessary. This could lead to considerable cost savings, allowing more people to be treated with the available resources.
"If budgets are fixed, there is a real danger that treatment of newly diagnosed patients, who are unwell, will sugger. DART clearly shows that scarce laboratory resources would be better diverted from routine laboratory monitoring to treating more people; laboratory tests could then be used to diagnose illnesses in people who are unwell." (DART policy brief) .
The Editorial Board of Sociology of Health and Illness have awarded the 2009 New Writer's Prize to Dr Fabian Cataldo. This is for his article "New Forms of Citizenship and Socio-political Inclusion: Accessing Antiretroviral Treatment in a favela”.
Dr Cataldo is an Evidence for Action researcher, working for the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. He is also a UCL Honorary Research Associate and Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies. The article is based on research he carried out in Brazil.
