January 2018
Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
In January 2018, Principal Investigators Kiros Berhane (University of Southern California) and Jonathan Samet (University of Colorado) led multiple consecutive workshops at Makerere University School of Public Health to train Hub investigators from Uganda and Rwanda as well as field team members of the Children’s Health Study in Uganda. The first part of the workshop (January 22-23) involved consultations and training on spirometry (as a continuation of the November 2017 workshop), principles of the design and conduct of the children’s health study and preparations for data management using the REDCap system. The second part of the workshop (January 24-25) focused on the fundamental principles of the hospital based time series study of the daily fluctuations in ambient air pollution on mortality and morbidity counts. The key training outcomes were understanding of the design of the time series study, data management aspects of both air pollution and mortality/morbidity data, tools for visualizing data, principles of the Poisson time series models of counts, and implementation of the modeling techniques via hands on training using the R statistical software. Hub related issues were discussed in detail during courtesy visits to the offices of the Makerere University Deputy Vice Chancellor William Bazeyo (a Co-Investigator of the Hub) and the School of Public Health dean Rhoda K. Wanyenze. Visits were also conducted to several of the schools to observe in action the air quality monitors (the E-samplers) that are already operational and to hold discussions with the school superintendents about the upcoming Children’s Health Study to be conducted on their students.
