OUR CORRESPONDENT
SHARJAH: On 5th and 6th July, in Sharjah UAE, Professor Nasim Chaudhry from Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning, Professor Dame Tina Lavenderand Dr. Tracey Mills from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, organized a insightful training program. This training program was aimed at planning an innovative research program on the prevention and management of stillbirths and neonatal deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Dr. Mills talked about “Enhancing parental involvement in the care of sick neonates in India, and Pakistan. Prof Chaudhry from PILL talked about “Development of multi-component intervention to improve bereavement support in Pakistan”. Professor Lavenderchaired a training session on safeguarding issues in research and strongly emphasized that everybody working in a research project is responsible for ensuring safeguarding. She said that it is important that research is conducted in an ethical way, researchers are safe, and participants are protected from harm. Professor Lavenderalsotalked about the importance of community engagement and involvement and how this increases community understanding of the issues under study and enhances researchers’ ability to understand community priorities. Early career researchers and experts from Pakistan, India and UK discussed the potential barriers both in India and Pakistan for pregnant women leading to high rates of stillbirths and neonatal deaths. These issues are particularly relevant to Pakistan due to having the highest stillbirth rates in South Asia and across the globe. Research projects such as NIHR Global Health Research Unitwill help to identify possible solutions for supporting families bereaved by stillbirth and also developing potential strategies to improve neonatal care and reduce neonatal death in Pakistan.