189911 Strengthening Local Capacity through International Research Networks

Monday, October 27, 2008: 1:06 PM

Heather L. Wipfli, PhD , Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Elisabeth Donaldson , John Hopkins, Baltimore, MD
Frances Stillman, EdD , Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
The need to develop national research capacity and to conduct policy relevant research is of increasing importance now that the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is in place in over 150 countries around the world. Conducting and disseminating research informs the policy and programmatic decisions required to implement the FCTC. For example, monitoring nicotine and particulate matter in the air to characterize secondhand smoke exposure is one research method that has proven especially useful for smoke free policy decisions. Researchers and advocates in low and middle income countries are in need of the tools, strategies, and networking opportunities to optimize limited resources and build needed research capacity. This presentation will discuss the development of a research network through the adaptation of a common protocol to monitor secondhand tobacco smoke exposure in women and children in 31 countries around the world. This network was used to conduct the research study, as well as to disseminate results and build capacity. In addition, this presentation will discuss an online surveillance toolkit on the website of the Global Tobacco Research Network (GTRN). This surveillance toolkit includes an interactive training on completing monitoring studies, features to generate a research protocol and an area to share study results and make comparisons across countries.

Learning Objectives:
Learning Objectives: 1. To understand the needs of developing country researchers in relationship to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control 2. To understand the steps taken to develop a network of researchers. 3. To discuss the development of the GTRN Surveillance toolkit.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: tobacco control work
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.