The Last Mile

After a brief hiatus, iCHORDS is excited to kick off a new podcast episode with the announcement of the iCHORDS Africa University Chapters!Join Dr. Alison Krentel for a relaxed conversation with Martha Mberu, the newly appointed Regional Manager for Africa. In this episode, we introduce the new iCHORDS Africa chapters and hear directly from Martha about her vision for the chapters.Listen to Martha as she shares her thoughts on the importance of engaging youth in the fight to eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), as well as her perspective on the future and potential of the university chapters.Tune in for this exciting first look at the iCHORDS Africa Chapter and the person helping shape its future!

Economic terms such as effectiveness and efficiency are often used when evaluating programs, but what do these terms really mean? Tune in to hear Dr. McFarland from Emory University, and Dr. Dalaba from the University of Health and Allied Sciences, as they discuss the role that public health economics has in the fight against NTDs. A full bio for Dr. McFarland can be found here. A full bio for Dr. Dalaba can be found here. Links to more resources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023) Edwards et al., (2013). Public health economics: a systematic review of guidance for the economic evaluation of public health interventions and discussion of key methodological issues Turner et al., (2019). Economic evaluations of onchocerciasis interventions: a systematic review and research needs

Join Dr. Margaret baker, Dr. Beth Sutherland and Dr. Gemma Aellah to learn about the value and utility of qualitative research methods to enhance MDA. The guide featured in the podcast can be found by following the link: https://www.ntdtoolbox.org/toolbox-search/guide-improving-mda-using-qualitative-methods Speaker bios: Gem Aellah is Research Fellow in Health and Social Science in the Global Health and Infection Department at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK. Gem is part of the  Social Science for Severe Stigmatizing Skin Neglected Tropical Diseases Foundation, a collaborative NIHR-funded research partnership across UK, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sudan, aiming to end the neglect of three skin-NTDs, podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies, through bringing the social sciences to bear on these conditions. Gem has a broad-based social science background and takes a practical anthropological approach, bringing social science on pressing global health issues together with creative methods and outputs, spanning non-specialist and interdisciplinary audiences. Her current work uses anthropological methods to explore how skin-NTD policymaking happens. Previous work involved ethnography of everyday life within a Kenyan Health and Demographic surveillance site during scale up of HIV care and treatment. She is co-author of creative handbook of tools to help global health workers talk about uncomfortable ethical dilemmas when doing research and intervention across inequalities. Gem @jachunya Elizabeth Sutherland received her doctorate in Maternal and Child Health from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has worked in program evaluation and implementation science research for more than 15 years and has worked in a wide variety of health areas. Dr. Sutherland is currently employed at RTI International, serving as the Evaluation and Research advisor for the Act to End NTDs | East project. Prof. Maggie Baker is an associate professor in the Department of Global Health at Georgetown University in the USA. The daughter of Scottish parents, she was born and grew up in Lima, Peru. Her research focuses on increasing access to infectious disease programs, including for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). She takes an implementation science approach, using multidisciplinary approaches, and is highly published. With over twenty years of global health experience, she has also worked at RTI International (most recently as the technical director of USAID’s large Act to End NTDs | East program, focused on supporting countries in Africa, Asia, and Haiti), with the UK government, and has spent five years embedded within the national government lymphatic filariasis program teams in Vanuatu and the Dominican Republic.

In this episode we hear from Geordie Woods from Sightsavers and Mack Giancola on how they used a participatory evaluation approach called: Outcome Harvesting to evaluate the Accelerate trachoma elimination programme. Full speaker bios: Mack Giancola has 15+ years of experience as an educator, public health leader, and evaluation consultant.  He specializes in participatory evaluation approaches like outcome harvesting by combining qualitative and quantitative approaches with facilitation and sense-making.    He is currently wrapping up his dissertation at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, School of Public Health Leadership.  Geordie Woods is a technical advisor on neglected tropical diseases for Sightsavers, focusing on social and behavior change communication and the integration of water hygiene and sanitation programing into NTDs programs. He works with multiple organizations across these sectors, spearheading innovative partnerships. His areas of expertise include strategic communication design, mass media and community mobilization, and advocacy. Geordie was a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea and worked subsequently for years in West Africa with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has an MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Additional Resources: Sightsaver's Accelerate trachoma elimination programme Key facts on Trachoma from the WHO Outcomeharvesting.net Betterevaluation.org

This episode of the Last Mile Podcast will discuss how to conduct a successful focus group discussion with Dr. Doris Njomo from the Kenya Medical Research Institute, and Naomi Caplan and Dr. Mekuriaw Alemayehu from the NALA foundation. Here you will find the link to the Beyond MDA report that is discussed in the podcast: https://www.nalafoundation.org/_files/ugd/50e284_2a0cef39ca2745c1a38fd3d16bc277a3.pdf Here is a link to a quick guide on focus groups: https://www.ichords.org/ichords-research-methods-series-focus-group-discussion/ Full Speaker Bios: Dr. Doris Njomo is a Principal Research Scientist in the area of social and behavioural studies at Kenya Medical Research Institute. Amongst other researchers, she has been conducting implementation research studies for Preventive Chemotherapy NTDs using mixed methods approach for over 15 years and has published several manuscripts and mentored postgraduate students on qualitative research methods. Naomi Caplan is the Head of Learning & Innovation at NALA. Previously a teacher, her interest in addressing the root causes of poverty led her to pursue a career in public health. With an MSEd and MPH, she now oversees NALA’s educational arm, which includes designing assessments that inform, evaluate, and amplify the work. Dr. Mekuriaw Alemayehu holds a PhD in public health, focused on visceral leishmaniasis and co-infection with HIV. He is currently a project manager for NALA Foundation as well as a postgraduate director and principal investigator of different projects at Gondar University in Ethiopia. Mekuriaw has 13 years of experience working with governmental and non-governmental organizations, including the WHO.

In this episode, we will be learning about Rapid Ethnography to get a better understanding of how this kind of research methodology can help us control and eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases. To help us navigate this topic, we have brought on two special guests, Dr. Padmalochan Biswal and Dr. Satyabrata Routray. Podcast Guests Dr. Padmalochan Biswal Dr. Satyabrata Routray. Podcast Host(s) Dr. Alison Krentel Podcast Narrator and Producer: Leshawn Benedict

iCHORDS Community of Practice is a platform for communication, collaboration and knowledge exchange within social and behavioural science research disciplines to address implementation gaps and current issues facing Neglected Tropical Disease programs. Given this, It is extremely important for iCHORDS to work together with other partners to understand challenges that are faced within communities so we as researchers can be responsive to needs. Today we will be speaking to the Chair of Kikundi Leadership Council, a Community of Practice for NTD Program Managers in Africa - to learn more about some of the dynamic needs program managers are facing in the field. Podcast Guests Dr. George Kabona Podcast Host(s) Dr. Alison Krentel Podcast Narrator and Producer: Leshawn Benedict Resources: Kikundi Community of Practice

Health campaigns are defined as time-bound, intermittent activities that deal with particular epidemiologic challenges, quickly close delivery gaps or offer supplemental coverage for health initiatives. Integrating health campaigns can be used by programs and organizations to enable co-delivery and collaboration among public health efforts with the goal of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of several interventions. The notion of integration is especially salient in the WHO NTD 2021-2030 roadmap which emphasizes the need for cross-cutting approaches which include improving integration across NTD programs. Given the importance of mass drug administration as a health campaign to control and eliminate some of the neglected tropical diseases, we set out to learn more about leveraging the power of campaign integration to improve NTD programs. In this episode, we speak to Mariana Sarmiento & Dr. Eva Bazant. Podcast Guests Mariana Sarmiento Dr. Eva Bazant Podcast Host(s) Nikhil D. Patil Podcast Narrator and Producer: Leshawn Benedict Resources: SIGIT Health Campaign Effectiveness Coalition Case study from the Univ. de los Andes team in Colombia

Implementation Research (IR) is a systematic approach that recognizes, understands, and addresses implementation bottlenecks and identifies optimal approaches for implementing health interventions, strategies, and policies. IR helps us improve our understanding of the challenges we face in the real world by enhancing our understanding of how real-world factors impact implementation. By doing so, IR sheds light on the intersection between what can be achieved in theory and what happens in practice. Given the importance of IR as a tool to improve interventions in the neglected tropical diseases field, we set out to learn more about IR from Dr. Margaret Gyapong and Dr. Olumide Ogundahunsi. Podcast Guests Dr. Margaret Gyapong Dr. Olumide Ogundahunsi Podcast Host(s) Dr. Alison Krentel Podcast Narrator and Editor: Leshawn Benedict Links to Resources: TDR Implementation Research Toolkit Massive open online course (MOOC) on implementation research: infectious diseases of poverty Implementation Research - Centre for Tropical Medicine Postgraduate training scheme: Building the capacity of the next generation of researchers and global health leaders The African Regional Training Centre (ARTC) Research Methods Series: Photovoice Using Seasonal Calendars as a Step towards identifying context complexities in Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in Lymphatic Filariasis “hotspot” areas in Ghana

One of the things we have failed to notice in the evolution of global health ethics has been the neglect of research and implementation partnerships as the context for a wide range of unfair and sometimes inequitable practices. There aren't many frameworks, benchmarks or standards on best practices for governmental, corporate, non-profit, or academic collaborations. This is particularly true for international collaborative research and innovation involving low- and middle-income countries. This is where the Research Fairness Initiative (RFI) hopes to make a difference. The RFI is a comprehensive guide for organizations to assess their performance in 15 specific domains of fairness in research partnerships and to guide their internal learning for practice and policy improvement. To help us navigate the Research Fairness Initiative, we have brought on a special guest, Dr. Jim Lavery. In this episode of The Last Mile podcast, you will: Hear about the unique career journey of Dr. Jim Lavery and how he started working within the neglected tropical diseases space Learn about the Research Fairness Initiative Understand some of the benefits and challenges of using the RFI Learn about how the work Dr. Jim Lavery does contributes to the last mile of NTD elimination and control Podcast Guests Dr. Jim Lavery Podcast Host(s) Dr. Upendo Mwingira Podcast Narrator and Editor: Leshawn Benedict Resources: Research Fairness Initiative (RFI) The Research Fairness Initiative: Filling a critical gap in global research ethics Join iCHORDS Community of Practice? Did you like what you listened to? There are many ways you can learn more about the many international research projects and ongoing collaborations to control and eliminate NTDs. Consider joining iCHORDS (Improving Community Health Outcomes through Research, Dialogue and Systems Strengthening) Community of Practice by visiting www.ichords.org. You can also stay up-to-date by following us on Twitter: @iCHORDS_COP