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October 25, 2011
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Greetings!
Research is a pillar of the Institute's mission to reduce health disparities at home and around the world. We have 120 active global health research projects in 28 countries, working with our partners to find solutions and answers to the biggest global health problems of our day. What grew out of a need for easier access to research and information resources at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Tanzania is a Duke e-training project that equips people in low-income countries with information literacy skills. Read more about the project below. On Friday from 12-1pm, come out to a special global health lecture with Dr. Erin Dainty, a Duke Global Health Fellow and Master of Science in Global Health student who will share her research on cervical cancer in Kenyan women with HIV. (Note: the location of the event has been moved to Room 040 in the basement of Trent Hall.) Until next week, Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI
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Health eLibrary Training Now Globally Available
Health and educational institutions in low-income countries worldwide can now take advantage of free e-training materials on conducting effective scientific literature searches, thanks to a joint effort of Duke University and the World Health Organization.  The training materials, developed by the Duke Global Health Institute and the Duke Medical Center Library, include videos, exercises and self-assessment quizzes to teach faculty, staff and students in low-income countries the fundamentals of the HINARI Access to Research in Health Programme. HINARI, which is a partnership of the WHO and major publishers, gives access to one of the world's largest collections of medical literature to institutions in more than 100 countries.
The training shows users how to find the full text of a journal article and how to do basic and advanced searches in PubMed. Developed by Duke's Marc Sperber and Megan von Isenburg, the training also includes a glossary of key terms and sub-titles, audio files, and text transcripts to accommodate differences in language and learning styles. Designed with low-bandwidth in mind for areas where high-speed internet is not available, the training is freely accessible on the internet and offers cost-free options for downloading and ordering on CD-ROM. "Megan and Marc's contribution is an example of how individuals understand the value of the HINARI program and then become involved," said Lenny Rhine, e-library training initiative coordinator with the Librarians Without Borders®/Medical Library Association. "While there are many examples of individuals conducting training, this is the first time that people have developed training material. We appreciate their contribution and expect that a number of users will benefit from this project." To date, most HINARI training materials are designed for trainers. The Duke training is unique because it targets is end-users. 
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Duke Health Economist Among Collaborators of $6M Grant to Battle Child Obesity
Duke Health Economist Eric Finkelstein will collaborate with recipients of a new $6.28 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for child obesity research. Finkelstein is associate research professor at the Duk e Global Health Institute and Deputy Director for Health Services & Systems Research at Duke-NUS.
In a continued effort to fight childhood obesity, the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, part of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine have been awarded a $6.28 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"Childhood obesity is one of the most challenging public health issues facing the nation and rates of child obesity are especially high in Texas," said Deanna Hoelscher, Ph.D., RD, principal investigator of the grant and director of the Center. "With this funding, we intend to connect the dots between families, pediatricians, schools and local youth organizations to develop community capacity for early detection and effective management of obesity using evidence-based programs such as Mind Exercise Nutrition Do it! and the Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH). Child obesity is a problem bigger than any of us can tackle by ourselves. We need to work together."
The goal of the demonstration project is to develop, implement and evaluate an integrated, systems-oriented obesity prevention and control program for underserved, ethnically diverse children age 2 to 12. The project will take place in Austin and Houston with collaborators from MEND Central Texas Children's Hospital, the Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity at Dell Children's Medical Center, Texas Department of State Health Services, Duke University, University of Nebraska Medical Center, the YMCA, the Sustainable Foods Center and CATCH.
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Building a Clinic for the People of Las Mercedes, Honduras
By Duke Medical Alumni Association
Getting to the village of Las Mercedes is a rough ride, 5,000 feet up steep dirt roads in the mountains of Honduras. The people living here are lucky if they get three years of public education before going to work in the fields at age 10-14. They survive on les s than $1 a day and live a long day's walk over treacherous roads from hospital or medical care.
One aspect of that hard life changed in April, when Dennis Clements and a group of Duke medical and nursing students and faculty joined representatives from Heifer International and residents of Las Mercedes and 12 surrounding villages to celebrate the official opening of the first health clinic ever to serve the Intibuca region of Honduras. Beginning in June, the clinic will be staffed fulltime by the Honduran Ministry of Health.
Land for the clinic was donated by Ruhino Dominguez, the president of Las Mercedes, and Clements secured donations from Rotary International and the Congregation of Duke Chapel. The building was constructed by the Duke Chapter of Engineers without Borders, and it is the only building with running water and solar power for hundreds of miles around.
Clements, who is chief of Duke Children's Primary Care and professor of pediatrics and global health, has been bringing groups of 15 medical and nursing students to Las Mercedes since 2000, when he was asked by the Duke University School of Nursing to develop a global health education course as part of a small grant.
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A Few Small Steps for Mankind
By Duke Research
"There are the thermometers who passively record social injustices, and then there are the thermostats that actively do something about it," Dr. Sunny Kishore said during the Eureka Symposium last Saturday, a dPS-sponsored event that
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Photo by Duke Research
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brought together 120 students and a number of Duke alums for some deep thinking about social change.
The main lecturers were followed by break-out sessions, which ranged in topic from global health to human rights. The four-hour symposium packed a philosophical punch, outlining a few actions that could save millions or even billions of lives in the developing world. It's probably the most inspired I've felt on a Saturday afternoon.
Representatives from the Enough Project made the case for using conflict-free minerals on campus (similar to the idea behind conflict-free diamonds). Tin, tantalum, coltan and gold - used in cell phones and other electronics - currently fuel war in eastern Congo, where various armed groups mine them for profit; more than five million people are thought to have died from the conflict so far. (Following a rather pointed editorial in the Chronicle by two Symposium organizers, Duke Procurement stated on its website that it would "[give] preference to vendors who have made a commitment to conflict-free supply chains when quality and cost performance are equal or superior.")
Drs. Anthony So, Robert Johnston and Kishore discussed strategies that could provide people in developing nations with access to life-saving treatments and vaccines - at a price they can afford. Triple therapy for AIDS used to cost $10-15,000, "too high a price for hope," So said. But thanks to 'bootstrap philanthropy' - free licenses and free production, supported by grant money - that same treatment costs less than $100 now.
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