The African continent is faced with a complex health crisis, marked by a confluence of infectious diseases and a surge in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) leading to chronic illnesses against a backdrop of inadequate health and social system performance. The African Population Cohorts Consortium (APCC) is an exciting new initiative bringing African scientists together to strengthen and promote excellence in cohort-based research on the continent. The overarching aim is to improve the health and well-being of populations across the African continent, deploying robust and innovative methods, and improve the health and social systems that serve them.

The vision and mission of the APCC is to unite population cohorts across Africa to harness the continent’s diversity and research capabilities to promote scientific breakthroughs, build the African evidence base, and strengthen policy and practice towards attaining equitable universal health coverage. This strategic shift in health and research priorities will be achieved through a collaborative and multi-disciplinary effort underpinned by integrated data systems to leverage the more than eighty population cohorts in Africa for a whole population approach.

Population cohorts, many of which follow individuals from birth to death, and all of which seek to collect unbiased data irrespective of access or engagement with the formal healthcare system, are an excellent tool with which to gather data on health dynamics. Population cohort-based research seeks to answer vital context specific and policy related research questions at scale. The APCC brings African cohort leaders and researchers together so that they can network, share best practise, identify and use new technologies and achieve a step-change in sharing and harmonising data and analysis approaches to examine the complexity and regional heterogeneity of health outcomes and determinants. This approach would enhance health research and more effectively inform public health policy.

The APCC has identified three synergistic and strategic research programmes that are distinct in their primary focus yet share common goals and access to the common APCC research infrastructure:

1. Health and Wellbeing Across the Lifespan
2. Climate and Health
3. Leveraging Population Cohorts to Enhance Progress toward Universal Health Coverage

Capitalising on the expertise of leaders in the field, the APCC will facilitate the development of harmonised cohort methodologies that enhance individual cohort outcomes and the effectiveness of multi-cohort research. This includes the development and use of a common cohort data model, the establishment of trusted research environments to promote data use, and the strengthening of guiding ethical principles to safeguard and involve cohort participants while enabling multi-cohort research.

Capacity building and training of cohort members of the APCC will be embedded within the development of cohort methodologies to enhance research and technical skillsets as well as organisational management skills.

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Description & Purpose

Routine health facility data are essential sources for real-time monitoring of the coverage of health services for national and local planning and programming. They are frequent, timely and available at local levels. However, they are underutilized due to data quality issues and challenges in determining appropriate denominators for coverage statistics.

This session is an initiative from the Countdown to 2030 for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (CD2030). The CD2030 is a network of global, regional and country academic and research institutions working closely with UNICEF, WHO and other international organizations, as well as national institutions and civil society, to generate evidence for progress and performance of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAH-N) programs and strengthen country capacity for data analysis and use (https://www.countdown2030.org). African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is an African-led and Africa based international research institute committed to conducting high quality and policy-relevant multidisciplinary research (https://aphrc.org). APHRC is leading the Countdown work in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While the CD2030 covers all low- and middle-income countries, it has recently targeted 25 countries in Africa that are receiving support from the Global Financing Facility (GFF) and established direct collaborations that foster in-depth analysis of all available data, including routine facility data, focusing on indicators included in country national RMNCH plan.

The session will convene representatives among the 25 country collaborations teams to present and discuss findings from the analysis of routine health facility data. It aims to provide methodological and result driven insights to support a more effective use of routine health facility data to estimate population coverage of health services to drive planning and performance assessments. It will also focus on estimating denominators and reliable coverage measures from routine health facility data. The session will also discuss data quality issues, health service provision, content/quality of care and mortality, and to showcase country data and use of data to support local planning and monitoring.

Target Group

Public health specialists, health system researchers, epidemiologists, demographers, health policy makers, health information system specialists, civil society representatives and others.

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Organizers

–  Carolina Coimbra Vieira, MPIDR, Germany, [email protected]

–  Ebru Şanlıtürk, MPIDR, Germany, [email protected]

Objectives and goals

This workshop aims to introduce the fundamentals of data collection and analysis of digital trace data, utilizing Google Trends and Wikipedia as powerful tools for gaining insights into migration patterns.

We plan to begin the session by introducing the data format, related literature, empirical findings, advantages, and critical challenges of such data. We then plan to have more interactive sessions on how to retrieve these data and write and search inquiries.

What You’ll Learn:

Understanding Digital Trace Data: Uncover the concept of digital trace data and its significance in migration studies. Explore how online platforms like Google Trends and Wikipedia capture and reflect real-world migration trends.

Google Trends Unveiled: Dive into the functionalities of Google Trends, learning how to extract valuable data related to migration keywords, regional interests, and temporal variations. Gain hands-on experience in navigating and interpreting Google Trends graphs for enhanced understanding.

Harnessing Wikipedia Data: Explore the wealth of information available on Wikipedia and discover how to extract relevant data for migration studies. Learn to utilize Wikipedia’s extensive archives to analyze historical migration trends and patterns.

Data Analysis and Visualization: Acquire skills in data analysis and visualization using tools like Python, R, or other preferred platforms. Learn to interpret trends, correlations, and anomalies within the collected digital trace data, creating compelling visual representations for meaningful insights.

Case Studies and Applications: Explore real-world case studies showcasing the practical application of digital trace data in migration studies. Understand how researchers have utilized these insights in academic research.

Ethical Considerations: Discuss the ethical implications of using digital trace data for migration studies. Gain insights into privacy concerns, data security, and responsible data usage.

Requirements:

The participants are required to bring their laptops to the workshop. Prior to the workshop, it is necessary to download and install both R and Python. To participate in the hands-on session, it is required that the participants should have a minimum knowledge of either R or Python. They are also required to read and follow the instructions and materials that will be sent out before the workshop.

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The Journal of African Population Studies (JAPS) is the UAPS’ biannual, peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research articles, reviews, commentaries, letters, and case studies on topics related to the sciences that deal with population and development interrelationships that are unique and relevant to Africa and global audience.

Considering the poor quality and poorly structured papers submitted to the JAPS and the low rate of acceptance of publications by African scholars in high-impact journals, it is necessary to train and empower researchers, especially ECRs, who may lack the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate the complex world of scientific publishing.

This session will provide authors with the tools and insights to produce high-quality scientific papers which are essential for the dissemination of research findings and driving scientific progress and contributing solutions to the population and development issues on the continent. Moreover, well-prepared manuscripts do undergo a more efficient peer review process, thus leading to timely publication, benefiting both authors and the journal by expediting the dissemination of valuable research.

More importantly, this session seeks to increase the competitive advantage of the JAPS in an increasingly competitive publishing landscape by increasing submissions and retaining authors. This session will draw presentations from reviewers and editors and will foster a sense of community and collaboration thus encouraging networking, mentorship, and knowledge sharing among authors and the editorial team within the research community associated with the journal.

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The GIRL Center will organize a research panel tentatively titled “Centering multi-dimensional approaches for adolescent girls”.

The panel will include oral presentations by 3 to 4 experts who will present research conducted by GIRL Center colleagues and collaborators.

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The GIRL Center will convene conference participants from francophone Africa with the two main aims:

1. learning about the work and activities of the GIRL Center in the West and Central African region and beyond and

2. networking to foster meaningful collaboration with adolescent-focused researchers, particularly early career researchers (ECRs).

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The aim of this meeting is to review the activities of the Capabilities Panel in particular the distance training program and the links developed with the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) – and how to further valorize these activities in the form of publications and the setting of a network. Let us recall that the Capability Approach (CA) examines the individual and collective factors that influence capabilities, i.e., the “freedom to live the life that one has reason to value” (Sen, 1999). It provides therefore a framework for structuring population studies by examining the causes of inequalities in quality of life and the solutions to address them.

The activities developed by the panel confirmed the interest in CA among African researchers and practitioners in population, and the need for French-speaking training (a rich material in English being available in HDCA activities) to consolidate skills in this regard. In view of the current difficulties in organizing face-to-face trainings, the panel has developed a recorded series of 8 training modules (the capsules) which are presently used by twenty colleagues from ten African countries.

Since November 2022, we have been solicited to take the coordination of HDCA Francophone Africa Regional Network. This gave the opportunity to African scholars to present papers at the annual HDCA conferences, produce a bibliography of research applying the CA in Francophone Africa, propose a reflection on the Ethics of development in francophone Africa and around the notion of negative capabilities. HDCA has also solicited us to develop a network of scholars competent in the CA being able to provide mentorship to young researchers.

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Introduction

Strengthening the capacity of the next generation of African population scientists is a top priority for several research and development organizations. These organizations are committed to building the capacity of a wider net of early career researchers (ECRs). ECRs contribute to the generation and dissemination of high-quality data and research via collaboration with other stakeholders and disciplines in the field of learning and apply their knowledge in solving complex problems that plague the African continent.

Nevertheless, ECRs tend to face challenges regardless of the stage at which they find themselves. ECRs usually need to strengthen their capacity to build their networks, collaborate with junior and senior colleagues, navigate the funding application landscape, present at conferences, and publish in high impact peer-reviewed journals, including the African Population Studies journal, among others.

As part of the 9^th African Population Conference (APC), whose theme is “Road to 2030: Leveraging Africa’s human capital to achieve transformation in a world of uncertainty”, we propose organizing a side or plenary event bringing together five research and development organizations operationalizing ECR programs. The event aims to cover the following objectives:

1. Provide a platform for the next generation of African population scientists to network and collaborate.
2. Give a platform to organisations/institutions that have early career researchers fellowship programs to support them in accessing training, funding and career opportunities.
3. Enhance long term collaboration among the partner organisations in supporting African early career researchers interested in population issues on the continent.
4. Provide tailored programs that meet the needs of ECRs in Africa.

The side event will have the following subgroups:

1. Doctoral candidates
2. Immediate post doctorate
3. Independent or affiliated researcher, 1-4 years post-doctorate (fully independent positions as investigators, faculty members, clinician scientists, scientific team leaders in industry, technical officers, and advisors…)

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