Department of Health Policy, Planning and Management, School of Public Health, University of Ghana.
Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Ghana Med J. 2020 Jun;54(2):121-125. doi: 10.4314/gmj.v54i2.11.
There has been a growing increase in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally with reports suggesting that the fastest increase in NCD deaths in the world will occur in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the next 5 to 15 years. Despite the projected increase in NCD-related deaths, there is little coordinated research in many West African nations, including Ghana, to quantify and study this burden and to translate the research findings into policy and practice. To address these challenges, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and the Navrongo Health Research Centre, both in Ghana, with support from the Wits NCD Research Leadership Training Program organized a two-day symposium to discuss the advancement of NCD research in the West African sub-region. The aim was to propose the way forward for strengthening applied research that can inform the development of health policies and programs focused on NCDs. Participants were drawn from academia, research and health institutions, early career researchers and postdoctoral fellows. We present the key themes that emerged from the symposium and some strategies for advancing NCD research in West Africa. These include interdisciplinary collaboration between NCD researchers in the region, generation of accurate data on disease burden and strengthening stakeholder and public engagement on NCDs.
Funding for the symposium was provided by NIH Fogarty International Center-Grant number D43TW008330, under the
全球范围内非传染性疾病（NCDs）的患病率不断上升，有报告称，在未来 5 到 15 年内，撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA）的 NCD 死亡人数将出现全球最快增长。尽管预计与 NCD 相关的死亡人数将会增加，但在包括加纳在内的许多西非国家，几乎没有协调一致的研究来量化和研究这一负担，并将研究结果转化为政策和实践。为了应对这些挑战，位于加纳的Noguchi Memorial 医学研究所和Navrongo 健康研究中心在威特沃特斯兰德大学非传染性疾病研究领导力培训计划的支持下，组织了为期两天的研讨会，讨论西非次区域的 NCD 研究进展。目的是提出加强应用研究的方法，为制定以 NCD 为重点的卫生政策和方案提供信息。参与者来自学术界、研究和卫生机构、初级研究人员和博士后研究员。我们提出了研讨会提出的主要主题，并提出了一些在西非推进 NCD 研究的策略。这些策略包括该地区 NCD 研究人员之间的跨学科合作、对疾病负担的准确数据的生成以及加强利益攸关方和公众对 NCD 的参与。
资金来源：研讨会的资金由 NIH Fogarty 国际中心提供，资助号为 D43TW008330，根据
