This has been a quiet week - I've been working on our pilot protocol, mostly sitting by myself at a computer. Not so exciting!
Maybe this is a good time to think about what I am doing here at all.
Did you know that 10 million children under the age of 5 die worldwide every year? And that the number one killer is pneumonia. Why does that happen?
Its a whole lot of complicated things working together - a combination of malnutrition, crowded living environments, smoke in the home, genetics, delayed presentation to health care services and maybe incorrect treatment when kids get there. And the spectre of HIV looms over all. Our study is looking at trying to tease apart some of these factors. For example the organisms (viruses, bacteria, etc) that cause pneumonia don't happen in the same frequency as in North America so we need to know which ones are more important here.
Part of our study that I find interesting is the "ancillary care" ... the idea is that we can use a study and its infrastructure to help improve care outside of our study. Communities aren't necessarily excited to participate in research - for really, what benefit does it give them. When you're living on the edge, helping science isn't that interesting. But the "what else" can hopefully be an avenue where we DO something other than study. Where we can provide (hopefully) a tangible benefit. That's what we're aiming for anyhow.
Maybe this is a good time to think about what I am doing here at all.
Did you know that 10 million children under the age of 5 die worldwide every year? And that the number one killer is pneumonia. Why does that happen?
Its a whole lot of complicated things working together - a combination of malnutrition, crowded living environments, smoke in the home, genetics, delayed presentation to health care services and maybe incorrect treatment when kids get there. And the spectre of HIV looms over all. Our study is looking at trying to tease apart some of these factors. For example the organisms (viruses, bacteria, etc) that cause pneumonia don't happen in the same frequency as in North America so we need to know which ones are more important here.
Part of our study that I find interesting is the "ancillary care" ... the idea is that we can use a study and its infrastructure to help improve care outside of our study. Communities aren't necessarily excited to participate in research - for really, what benefit does it give them. When you're living on the edge, helping science isn't that interesting. But the "what else" can hopefully be an avenue where we DO something other than study. Where we can provide (hopefully) a tangible benefit. That's what we're aiming for anyhow.
1 comment:
so how would these communities participate in your study?
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