Public Health

The DI team was honored to lead the customized software development underpinning the Substance Use Measure Identification (SUMI) tool hosted at HPTN.org.

Spearheaded by the Substance Use Scientific Committee (SUSC) of the HIV Prevention and Trials Network (HPTN), SUMI is a web-based, interactive tool to assist researchers in identifying the proper measures and survey instruments with which to assess substance use in the setting of HIV. 

For a number of years, we have advised the Substance Use Scientific Committee (SUSC) of the HIV Prevention and Trials Network (HPTN) on clinical study design and execution, including RCT. In randomized controlled trials (RCT), study subjects are randomly allocated to two or more groups, treating them differently, and then comparing them with respect to a measured response. The intervention group receives the treatment being assessed, while the control group receives an alternative condition, such as a placebo or no intervention. The groups are followed under conditions of the trial design to determine the effectiveness and efficacy of the intervention.

From 2005 to 2007, this USAID-funded project spearheaded the development of a sub-regional ECOWAS Health Minister’s Resolution and ARV Management Policy. To gather the necessary evidence culimnating in this sub-regional policy, we studied the current gaps in the management of ARVs in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Senegal. We authored a ARV supply-chain management case study for each of the three countreis, an overarching comparative case study, as well as a white paper on documented good practices in ARV delivery. Another notable step towards a sub-regional policy involved executing an ECOWAS Directors of Pharmacy workshop on ARV Management.   

Through the four partner consortium (Helen Keller International-West African Health Organisation-Tulane University-USAID), throught the 2007 "Alliance to Harness Information Technology for Decision-Making and Capacity Building in West Africa" project we had the opportunity to strengthen the ICT capacities of senior health care officials of in the ECOWAS sub-region, e.g. ophthalmologists.