Newly Appointed Ghana Hub Deputy Director Wins Highly Esteemed Award
Dr. Agbeko recently named a fellow of the West Africa Institute of Surgeons where she also received 'Best Candidate in General Surgery' award
The recently appointed Deputy Director for the Ghana Hub (appointed March 2023) is noted as being the only general surgeon with a PhD in palliative care who also holds a Fellowship from the Ghana Institute of Surgeons, amongst her many accolades spanning an extensive career in surgical care.
Dr. Agbeko's interest includes partnerships that foster developing equity in surgical care across the world, especially in low-resourced settings.
The Ghana Hub are also currently in the process of managing data cleaning for the HIPPO study that will soon be closing to new registrations. More details on the HIPPO study can be accessed by clicking here.
You can read more on Dr. Agbeko's career to date by reading the GhanaWeb news article here.
More information on the Ghana Hub team can be accessed here.
Dr. Agbeko
Ghana Deputy Hub Director
Latest CHEETAH Publication in BioMed Central Looks at Strategies to Minimise a Major Methodological Challenge in Cluster Randomised Controlled Trials (cRCTs)
The latest paper from the GSU's recently completed CHEETAH trial discusses strategies to minimise and monitor biases and imbalances by arm in cRCTs
The recently conducted analysis includes 10,686 patients from 70 clusters with the study evaluating whether changing sterile gloves and instruments prior to abdominal wound closure reduces surgical site infection at 30 days postoperative. Eight strategies in total to minimise and monitor bias were pre-specified.
The paper identifies potential sources of bias when utilising cRCTs and looks at how the strategic system applied not only monitored and minimised the risks of bias and imbalances by arm but also highlights the lessons that can be learned for future cRCTs within hospitals.
You can access the publication by clicking here.
You can also visit the CHEETAH page by clicking here.
HIPPO Study - Webinar Today (27.03.23)
Webinar for the Recently Launched HIPPO Study to Discuss Relevance of Key Aims
The HIPPO team discuss the 3 main aims of the study that looks into pathway and planetary outcomes for inguinal hernia surgery:
- Characterise the global backlog for elective surgery
- Technique, training and operating surgeon variation
- Explore environmentally sustainable practices in operating theatres
Study coordinators Dr. Maria Picciochi and Dr. Viriginia Ledda will also review the registration process during the broadcast.
The webinar will feature an international panel of collaborators from Australia, Colombia and Nigeria taking part in a Q&A session following the conclusion of the main discussion during the online event.
The webinar will start at 8:00PM UK Time (BST)
You can access the webinar by clicking on this link that will take you to the webinar portal.
A Blog from our Team @ West African College of Surgeons Conference 2023
A Breakdown of the First Couple of Days of Dr. Virginia Ledda and Dr. Maria Picciochi from the University of Birmingham
This week two of our PhD fellows, Maria and Virginia, have travelled to Togo for the 63rd West African College of Surgeons Congress (WACS), to help the other members of the Unit present the projects that are being developed currently.
They landed in Lomé, Togo late on Sunday night, after being greeted by Vivien and Covalic, colleagues from the Benin Hub.
The opening ceremony to the Conference was held on Monday afternoon, with a procession of the members of WACS and addresses from the President of WACS, Professor Peter Donkor and Professor Tchengai, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee. Addresses were also given by representative of sister organisations, such as the West African College of Physicians. The addresses highlighted the importance of collaboration to promote the quality of care provided- which is one of the key principles of our Unit.
After the opening ceremony, Maria and Virginia had the chance to catch up with their Unit colleagues from the Hubs of Benin, Rwanda, Nigeria and Ghana. The NIHR Global Surgery Unit lead a symposium on Global Surgery on Thursday morning, so the meeting was an excellent opportunity to define the themes to be discussed and plan the session.
After the meeting the group had an opportunity to unwind and relax at dinner- everyone is so excited about the next few days!
Maria and Virginia are looking forward to the next few days in Lomé, Togo and will keep sharing their experiences.
You can view additional information from the Conference as it comes in via our official Twitter channel.
More information on the West African College of Surgeons can be found on their website.