Wide Breadth of Research Displayed at the 2nd CARTA Fellows’ Conference

A wide breadth of research was displayed during the 2015 CARTA fellows’ conference held in Nairobi, Kenya alongside two Joint Advanced Seminars (JASes) for CARTA fellows. CARTA organizes a conference during the last JAS for every cohort of fellows to offer them an opportunity to present on their research to a wide audience that is drawn from various institutions and various scholars.

The fellows’ conference helps fulfil the vision of CARTA of building a vibrant African academy that is able to lead world class multidisciplinary research that makes a positive impact on public and population health. They are held annually during the JAS 4, the final JAS for CARTA fellows. The presentations at this years’ conference were a clear display of quality work being done by the students and an indication of growth towards becoming research leaders in Africa. They tackled a number of topics on health ranging from non-communicable to infectious diseases; HIV, family planning, food security, malaria, and health of the aging, environmental health related issues and knowledge, attitudes and practices in health.

“The wide variety of issues being addressed by the fellows through their presentations is a true reflection of the depth and breadth of the programme,” said Chima Izugbara, Director of Research and Capacity Strengthening Division at APHRC.

Did you know that brucellosis is a significant and neglected public health problem among human population living in livestock keeping and the risk is being aggravated by consumption of unpasteurized milk products? And that investment in the education of the slum households may, in the long term, contribute to reduction in the prevalence of food insecurity? These are some of the findings from papers presented at the conference.

The depth of research presented is a confirmation of CARTA’s aims to foster vibrant and viable multidisciplinary research hubs at African universities and creating locally-trained internationally- recognized researchers on areas of health and population in Africa. Participants drawn from CARTA partner institutions and Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology, University of Nairobi, Moi University, Kenyatta University, United States International University and Daystar University are some of the institutions from which a section of the conference participants were drawn.

“The conference was very informative. I loved so much the medical related presentations. They were well researched and used current data and information. I would not mind being part of such a conference anytime it is held,” remarked Judith Otele Karimi an epidemiologist from Daystar University and Quality Assurance and Benefits officer at the National Hospital and Insurance Fund in Kenya.