Filters
Research projects 8
Diseases have no borders. A disease anywhere in the world may become a health threat everywhere. It takes less than 36 hours for an outbreak to spread from a remote village to any major city in the world, therefore, the most effective – and cost effective – way to protect people from such health threats i.e measles, cholera and COVID-19 is to stop them before they spread to others and cross borders. Here comes the role of public health surveillance. Public health surveillance is the continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data. An effective disease surveillance system is essential to detecting disease outbreaks quickly before they spread, cost lives and become difficult to control. Digital technologies can improve the ability to both detect and respond to disease outbreaks by sharing data swiftly thus helping us to understand how and where diseases are spreading. This information is crucial for deciding what health policies and strategies to make and follow. Significance of this research is not limited to one country but it has global health dimensions. It can help to address the critical issue of global health security by evaluating the impact of digital technologies on public health surveillance. Low and middle income countries (LMICs) including Pakistan have fragile health systems therefore the risk of spreading diseases, even beyond their borders, is high. Disease surveillance system in Pakistan has largely been outdated and paper based, frequently leading to delayed detection of measles, cholera and other communicable disease outbreaks. In 2017, Ministry of Health Pakistan, with support of World Health Organization (WHO), launched Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system which uses electronic health information system (District Health Information System – DHIS-2) as a platform for rapid and near real time reporting for selected diseases. From 2017 to 2022, the new system was implemented in 52 districts of the country while remaining 104 districts are still using paper based system. The dual existence of different reporting systems presents a unique opportunity for a comparative analysis, allowing for insights into the effectiveness of the digital transition. As a doctoral researcher, I will conduct an evaluation to address the existing knowledge gap regarding the effectiveness of transitioning from traditional paper-based disease data reporting systems to new digital systems. Specifically, my research will focus on evaluating the impact of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) and District Health Information System 2 (DHIS-2) initiatives in Pakistan. This evaluation aims to assess the effectiveness of new electronic infectious disease surveillance system in enhancing the country's health system capabilities. I aim to conduct a comparative analysis of the performance between DHIS-2, an electronic system, and traditional paper-based systems through cross sectional study, evaluate the effectiveness of the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) framework and the District Health Information System 2 (DHIS-2) through a comprehensive assessment and explore the determinants influencing the adoption of electronic surveillance systems through a mix method study. The local research infrastructure is well-established, with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pakistan under Ministry of Health serving as a central data hub for disease surveillance and public health information. The presence of this infrastructure is vital for the success of the research project, as it provides access to comprehensive and up-to-date data on disease surveillance, outbreaks, and response efforts across Pakistan. The NIH website hosts weekly epidemiological IDSR reports. These reports serve as a rich source of information, forming the foundation for the research and ensuring the reliability and relevance of the data collected. Furthermore, the International Doctoral Programme in Epidemiology and Public Health at Tampere University, drawing on its expertise and research strength, will help to improve the quality and depth of the research findings. Together, these elements of the research infrastructure will contribute to the robustness of the study. The research project is feasible as IDSR implementation, led by Ministry of Health Pakistan, is already in progress with support of WHO. I have five years of practical experience, as a public health expert, in disease surveillance, monitoring and evaluation with World Health Organization, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and UK Health Security Agency. My previous role as the Training Coordinator in the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) project has been very relevant. Research will be implemented in phased manner starting from kick off meetings, ethical approvals to data collection, data analysis, reporting and dissemination and finalization and publications. The results of this study may help to improve global health security by examining how well digital health information systems detect and respond to diseases quickly. In Pakistan, the findings might help strengthen the healthcare system, providing useful guidance to policy makers and contributing to practical strategies for better public health monitoring. My research is in line with the European Union's recent Global Health Strategy, which is a cornerstone of the EU's external policy. Addressing and mitigating health threats, particularly pandemics, is highlighted as a key priority within this strategy. Through my research, I aim to contribute to this overarching goal by examining the effectiveness of infectious disease surveillance systems, ultimately working towards a healthier and more resilient global community.
Team
This research aims to: - Identify steps in the process that leads from information disclosure to better resource governance that are not well understood theoretically or that have not been validated empirically - Subject these steps to rigorous empirical testing - Develop a theory of change for the transparency process.
Team
Biomedical Robotics and Applications (BioRA) focused on the staff exchange between the partners of EU and China, and on the development of new technologies and applications in the field of biomedical robotics on the macro, micro and nano scales for biological cell detection, manipulation, test and injection. It met the objectives and requirements of the Marie Curie Action: International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES), by setting up multiple bridges between European and Chinese institutions.
Team
Pasi Kallio, Koivikko Anastasia, Seriola Veikko
We are proposing a three component intervention including health education, a take-home reminder card and a shopping voucher aimed at reducing heavy lifting/carrying among pregnant women in Ghana.The purpose is to reduce the incidence of preterm Birth (less than 37 weeks) and low birthweight (less than 2500 g) which are currently high in the country. Access to funding to implement the intervention on a larger scale promises some solutions to the soaring numbers of adverse pregnancy outcomes in low and middle income countries.
Team
Professor Kimmo Räsänen, Dr. Jos Verbeek, Emma Kwegyir-Afful, Dr Lydia Aziato, Professor J.D. Seffah.
Spurred by the quest for improved performance, industrial firms have often embraced the international market, consequent to which they are continually embroiled in cross-border competitive rivalries in multiple markets. Against this backdrop, this study explores the cross-border investment location choices and competitive interactions of mobile network operators (MNOs) in Sub-Saharan Africa, with particular focus on the 16 such firms that had proven significant presence across multiple countries in the region as of 2014.
Team
The primary aim of the project is climate change mitigation and reduced deforestation through the provision of low cost water purification technologies to the rural poor. At the same time, the project will sustainably scale up, through carbon finance, the production and dissemination of low-cost clean water treatment solutions to poor households in Cambodia and Lao PDR. The local supply chains of the two carbon projects by Hydrologic Social Enterprise and Terra Clear will be strengthened and the projects will be developed into Gold Standard projects for voluntary carbon markets (VCM). Targeted customers are rural households who currently have no or only a partial access to clean water. Ceramic water purifiers are able to provide a number of co benefits to end users (including the adaptive capacity of end users to climate change) and throughout the supply chain. The project aims to ensure these co-benefits are also realised. The scaling up and sustainable mass dissemination activities will be complemented by a research report prepared by Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC).
Team
FFRC-Jyrki Luukkanen, Kamilla Karhunmaa, Visa Tuominen, Outi Pitkänen Nexus- Jo Hazelwood Hydrologic- Rachel Pringle TerraClear- Nathan Cole
The purpose of this research is to study the Rhodesian discourse in the autobiographical writing of Peter Godwin, a Rhodesian-born writer living in New York today. A great number of memoirs and autobiographical texts by white Rhodesian/Zimbabwean writers have emerged during the last fifteen years, and several of these writers, including Godwin, have been criticized for reviving a Rhodesian discourse which means holding on to colonial attitudes and ideals. My aim is to determine to what extent this is really the case in Peter Godwin's writing. I also examine what parallels can be drawn and conclusions made in relation to other white Zimbabwean autobiography.
Team
The research is done in towards a doctoral dissertation. The study is focused on the Cameroon higher education system. The objective is to identify the strategic objectives of higher education in Cameroon; how they are determined and implemented at the system and institutional levels. The balanced scorecard (BSC) approach will then be used to show how the determination and implementation and evaluation of strategic objectives can be facilitated by the BSC approach.The endpoints would be to: -Highlight the feasibility of the BSC approach to the Cameroonian higher education -Determine the structural capacity of the Cameroonian Higher Education System to use the BSC in determining, implementing and evaluating its strategic objectives. -Outline a System and Institutional BSC for Cameroon based on the data from interviews and document reviews. To achieve this, policy document reviews and qualitative semi-structured interviews are conducted with policy makers and then one higher education institution.