Partners Forum Research Articles

Poster Session Abstracts from the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Partners Forum and Science Days 2024

Poster Session Abstracts from the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Partners Forum and Science Days 2024

Midwifery Students’ Knowledge and Perceptions of a Midwifery-Led Model of Care in North Karnataka, India

ObjectiveTo assess the knowledge and perceptions of midwifery students regarding a midwifery-led model of care. DesignCross-sectional study. SettingA nursing college in North Karnataka, India. The midwifery-led care model is a relatively new concept in India. In 2018, guidelines on midwifery services in India were released during the Partners Forum held in New Delhi as the initiation of the model and with the support of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The initiative began with the training of nurse practitioners in midwifery and is progressing. ParticipantsFinal-year diploma and bachelor’s degree students. MethodsParticipants completed an online survey, which consisted of a 20-item questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale to collect their knowledge and perceptions of the midwifery-led model of care. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the knowledge and perceptions of the students, including the mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage. Chi-square analysis and the Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used to assess relationships between variables of interest. ResultsAmong the 165 participants, 85.5% (n = 141) had a poor level of knowledge of the midwifery-led care model, and only 14.5% (n = 24) showed average knowledge, with none possessing adequate knowledge. Notably, gender was significantly associated with knowledge (p < .05), with female participants demonstrating lower knowledge levels compared to male participants. A substantial portion (76.4%, n = 126) had a negative perception of the midwifery-led care model, 23.6% (n = 39) had a neutral perception, and none had a positive perception. There was no significant correlation between students’ knowledge and perceptions of the midwifery-led model of care. ConclusionThese results suggest that there is an urgent need for awareness, knowledge, and educational initiatives to help nursing students in India better comprehend the midwifery-led model of care and to strengthen the midwifery training in nursing colleges.

Engaging people with lived experience of dementia in research meetings and events: insights from multiple perspectives.

This perspective article describes the experiences of engaging people with lived experience of dementia in research meetings and events from the perspectives of people with lived experience, researchers, trainees, audience members and others. We outline examples of engagement from different events and describe a video project, initiated by people with lived experience, conveying diverse views about becoming integral collaborators in the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) annual Partners Forum and Science Days. We also report evaluation data from audiences and present a series of tips and strategies for facilitating this engagement, including practical considerations for supporting people with lived experience.

Exposure considerations in human safety assessment: Report from an EPAA Partners’ Forum

Understanding and estimating the exposure to a substance is one of the fundamental requirements for safe manufacture and use. Many approaches are taken to determine exposure to substances, mainly driven by potential use and regulatory need. There are many opportunities to improve and optimise the use of exposure information for chemical safety. The European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) therefore convened a Partners’ Forum (PF) to explore exposure considerations in human safety assessment of industrial products to agree key conclusions for the regulatory acceptance of exposure assessment approaches and priority areas for further research investment. The PF recognised the widescale use of exposure information across industrial sectors with the possibilities of creating synergies between different sectors. Further, the PF acknowledged that the EPAA could make a significant contribution to promote the use of exposure data in human safety assessment, with an aim to address specific regulatory needs. To achieve this, research needs, as well as synergies and areas for potential collaboration across sectors, were identified.

Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Partners Forum and Science Days 2022: Abstracts from the Poster Sessions October 11–14, 2022

Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Partners Forum and Science Days 2022: Abstracts from the Poster Sessions October 11–14, 2022

Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Partners Forum and Science Days 2021: Abstracts from the trainee poster competition

Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Partners Forum and Science Days 2021: Abstracts from the trainee poster competition

Building confidence in skin sensitisation potency assessment using new approach methodologies: report of the 3rd EPAA Partners Forum, Brussels, 28th October 2019

Skin sensitising substances that induce contact allergy and consequently risk elicitation of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) remain an important focus regarding the replacement of animal experimentation. Current in vivo methods, notably the local lymph node assay (LLNA) refined and reduced animal usage and led to a marked improvement in hazard identification, characterisation and risk assessment. Since validation, regulatory confidence in the LLNA approach has evolved until it became the first choice assay in most regulated sectors. Currently, hazard identification using the LLNA is being actively replaced by a toolbox of non-animal approaches. However, there remains a need to increase confidence in the use of new approach methodologies (NAMs) as replacements for LLNA sensitiser potency estimation. The EPAA Partners Forum exchanged the current state of knowledge on use of NAMs in various industry sectors and regulatory environments. They then debated current challenges in this area and noted several ongoing needs. These included a requirement for reference standards for potency, better characterisation of applicability domains/technical limitations of NAMs, development of a framework for weight of evidence assessments, and an increased confidence in the characterisation of non-sensitisers. Finally, exploration of an industry/regulator cross-sector user-forum on skin sensitisation was recommended.

ІНКЛЮЗИВНЕ ПРАВОСУДДЯ: ПО НОВОМУ ПРО СТАРЕ

In the beginning of 2019 in Haag was an extensive event – Partners forum in area of access to justice that combined members from many countries which was recognizing the particular importance of this issue for the sustainable development of society around the world. A lot of events which planned for the OON up to 2030 years testified about their actuality and priority. The target task is identifying the rule of law and access to justice as an important facture to progress for throughout. For a long time access to justice in Ukraine is a priority direction to development of the legal system in general and in the judiciary in particular. “Access to justice” as a meaningful concept traditionally viewed by scientists through the prism of different conditions (legal, social, economic), or by examining the obstacles that exist in this field. Recently, the term "inclusive justice" has come to be used in relation to its characteristics, which needs due theoretical consideration. The purpose of the article is researching something new for national science that need to be theoretical meaningful. The main results of researching are in next clause: The concept “ inclusive justice” characterizes the concept of accessibility of justice from the position of non-discrimination and equal opportunities for all, without excluding people in the means and means of judicial protection of their rights. This accent allows for focusing on the accessibility of justice for people who, due to certain factors (gender, age) or life circumstances (low income) or because of their health or other disabilities, face relative (behavioral) and environmental barriers. For a simple understanding inclusiveness in area of justice envisages their accessibility for people with disabilities, focusing attention on special subject which need to realization this function. The concept of inclusive justice provided not only necessity to establishment appropriate conditions for effective realization rights for each people on judicial protection. This is the question accessibility for person with disabilities to judicial profession which is less researching in Ukraine. Inclusion as a access to justice focused attention not on people with disabilities and also on possibilities available to the justice system, the means available, the ways it can use it`s potential, and most importantly the obstacles, barriers and difficulties that need to be overcome by offering solutions that are necessary for one and at the same time useful to all. Inclusion in justice also emerges as a policy, a strategy to overcome barriers that impede it`s accessibility to the development and implementation of which must be involved both the state and directly involved in the justice process. It should provide for a system of measures, the key in formulating and prioritizing which is the identification of obstacles and the rational use of available resources.

Partners Forum hears superintendent and responsible pharmacist proposals

Partners Forum hears superintendent and responsible pharmacist proposals

Co-Production at the Strategic Level: Co-Designing an Integrated Care System with Lay Partners in North West London, England.

In North West London, health and social care leaders decided to design a system of integrated care with the aim of improving the quality of care and supporting people to maintain independence and participation in their community. Patients and carers, known as ‘lay partners,’ were to be equal partners in co-production of the system.Lay partners were recruited by sending a role profile to health, social care and voluntary organisations and requesting nominations. They formed a Lay Partners Advisory Group from which pairs were allocated to system design workstreams, such as which population to focus on, financial flow, information technology and governance. A larger and more diverse Lay Partners Forum provided feedback on the emerging plans.A key outcome of this approach was the development of an integration toolkit co-designed with lay partners. Lay partners provided challenge, encouraged innovation, improved communication, and held the actions of other partners to account to ensure the vision and aims of the emerging integrated care system were met.Key lessons from the North West London experience for effective co-production include: recruiting patients and carers with experience of strategic work; commitment to the vision; willingness to challenge and to listen; strong connections within the community being served; and enough time to do the work. Including lay partners in co-design from the start, and at every level, was important. Agreeing the principles of working together, providing support and continuously recruiting lay representatives to represent their communities are keys to effective co-production.

HIV issues and people with disabilities: A review and agenda for research

The recent AIDS and Disability Partners Forum at the UN General Assembly High Level Meetings on AIDS in New York in June 2011 and the International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC in July 2012 underscores the growing attention to the impact of HIV and AIDS on persons with disabilities. However, research on AIDS and disability, particularly a solid evidence base upon which to build policy and programming remains thin, scattered and difficult to access. In this review paper, we summarise what is currently known about the intersection between HIV and AIDS and disability, paying particular attention to the small but emerging body of epidemiology data on the prevalence of HIV for people with disabilities, as well as the increasing understanding of HIV risk factors for people with disabilities. We find that the number of papers in the peer-reviewed literature remains distressingly small. Over the past 20 years an average of 5 articles on some aspect of disability and HIV and AIDS were published annually in the peer-reviewed literature from 1990 to 2000, increasing slightly to an average of 6 per year from 2000 to 2010. Given the vast amount of research around HIV and AIDS and the thousands of articles on the subject published in the peer-reviewed literature annually, the continuing lack of attention to HIV and AIDS among this at risk population, now estimated to make up 15% of the world's population, is striking. However, the statistics, while too limited at this point to make definitive conclusions, increasingly suggest at least an equal HIV prevalence rate for people with disabilities as for their non-disabled peers.

A Multistakeholder Platform to Promote Health and Prevent Noncommunicable Diseases in the Region of the Americas: The Pan American Health Organization Partners Forum for Action

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and obesity are the most serious health problem facing the countries of the Americas in terms of avoidable deaths as well as costs to governments, families, and business. The main causes are ageing of the population, and widespread risks such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and harmful use of alcohol, linked to major changes in the way we live and work, to public policies, cultural norms, and private sector forces. Underlying determinants are globalization, urbanization, poverty, education, gender, ethnicity, and access to health services. Yet, approximately 80% of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and 40% of cancer, are preventable through a range of cost-effective population and individual measures for those at high risk of living with NCDs. However, the multisectoral nature of NCDs requires a cross-sector response to succeed. Several governments have commenced intersectoral efforts, and civil society and private sector also have many initiatives, but the responses are fragmented and skewed. The Partners Forum is being launched by the Pan American Health Organization in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and a set of partners including member states, partners in civil society, and partners in the private sector, as a multisector platform to catalyze, recognize, and scale up collaborative action to promote health and prevent and control NCDs at regional, subregional, and country level. The principles of partnership and lessons learned from other partnership experiences are being used in its design.

International health and new forms of association: the Multipartite Dialogue and the Partners Forum

Two cooperative public health initiatives involving representatives of civil society, academia, and the public and private sectors of the Americas are described and analyzed. One of them-the Multipartite Dialogue-promotes an intersectoral approach in its broadest sense, and the other-the Partners Forum-while it represents an institutional initiative, pays particular attention to chronic noncommunicable diseases. Both are a call to action for governments and offer alternatives to tackle regional health problems more effectively.

Global Government Health Partners' Forum 2006: eighteen months later

The challenge of global health worker shortages, particularly among nurses, has been the topic of numerous forums over the last several years. Nevertheless, there has been little attention given to the roles of government chief nursing and medical officers as key partners in addressing health worker shortages. This partnership and its potential impact on the adequacy of the global health workforce was the focus of the most recent Global Government Health Partners (GGHP) Forum held in November 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. This forum was uniquely designed to create a context for government chief nursing officers and chief medical officers to engage in a joint learning and planning experience focused on positioning their leadership to impact health workforce issues. This article describes an 18-month follow-up evaluation of the outcomes of the GGHP. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the impact of the forum experience on the actions of participants based on the country-level plans they produced at the forum. This important feedback is intended to inform the design of future partnered global forums and gain insights into the utility of forum-based action plans. The evaluation process itself has served as an opportunity for the engagement of university faculty, students and staff in a global service learning experience. The outcomes of this evaluation indicate that important progress has been made by countries whose leadership was involved in the forum, and was also an important learning activity for those participating in the conduct of the study.

Elsevier's Strategic Partners Forum: A Climate of Change and Challenge

Elsevier's Strategic Partners Program (SPP) convened a forum prior to the American Library Association's 2003 midwinter conference in Philadelphia, PA. Two presentations from that forum are published here to indicate the enormous challenges, initiatives, and changes that face all of us in the serials, publishing, and information environments.

Elsevier's Strategic Partners Forum: A Climate of Change and Challenge

Elsevier's Strategic Partners Program (SPP) convened a forum prior to the American Library Association's 2003 midwinter conference in Philadelphia, PA. Two presentations from that forum are published here to indicate the enormous challenges, initiatives, and changes that face all of us in the serials, publishing, and information environments.

Improving Child survival through enhancing Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV

Background: Although highly effective prevention interventions exist, the epidemic of paediatric HIV continues to challenge control efforts in resource-limited settings. Effective strategies are needed for the Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT). The complete PMTCT package includes comprehensive antenatal (ANC) care, modified obstetric practices, antiretroviral therapy and infant feeding counseling and support. Aim: This article presents syntheses of evidence on the cost-effectiveness of HIV MTCT strategies for LMICs, investigates whether a maternal triple-antiretroviral regimen that was designed to maximally suppress viral load in late pregnancy and the first 6 months of lactation was safe and well-tolerated, investigates acceptability of the PMTCT programme components, and identifies structural and cultural challenges to male involvement in the reduction of MTCT. Methods: I identified articles on the use of ARVs to prevent MTCT of HIV through a comprehensive database search including PubMed and Embase. I screened the titles and abstracts from the individual database search results from year 2002-2011, pooled the potentially eligible studies, retrieved full-text articles, and then assessed whether they met the inclusion criteria. I extracted the data based on publication date, demographic characteristics and HIV transmission rates to babies. Results: The articles suggest that interventions to prevent paediatric infections are cost-effective in a variety of LMICs. HIV-transmission rates among subgroups defined by maternal risk factors, including baseline CD4 cell count and viral load was 15% after 24 months, while transmission rates for those who have received ARVs was 7% for the same period. This reveals that triple-antiretroviral regimen for pregnant-women was safe and feasible. Routine testing for HIV of women at the antenatal clinic was found to be highly acceptable and appreciated by men, while other programme components, notably partner testing, condom use and the infant feeding recommendations, were met with continued resistance. The vision, goal, objectives and targets noted by Global Partners Forum will serve as a framework for WHO to support countries to focus on and prioritize the accelerated scale-up of effective and comprehensive PMTCT services. Conclusion and recommendations: Interventions to prevent HIV MTCT are compelling on economic grounds in many resource-limited settings and should remain at the forefront of global HIV prevention efforts. Deep-seated ideas about gender roles and hierarchy are major obstacles to male participation in the PMTCT programme. Empowering men to participate by creating a space within the PMTCT programme that is male friendly should be feasible and should be highly prioritized for the PMTCT programme to achieve its potential. Increased community sensitization, counseling and testing, treatment and support of women identified as HIV infected should improve acceptance of PMTCT services in Africa and subsequently reduce paediatric HIV. Correspondence: Mkoma George F., e-mail: georgemkoma@yahoo.com