Prof'Supa Pengpid, M'Sc', Dr'PH Project Leader

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Prof.Supa Pengpid, M.Sc., Dr.PHProject Leader
Public Health Intervention Research Project
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Members of Project Team

• Prof. Supa Pengpid (Project Leader)
• Mrs. R.J. Burnett (Assistant project leader) Dept
  of Epidemiology, School of Public Health
• Head and Staff members from 5 departments in the
• School of Public Health
• Department of Virology
• Centre for Human Nutrition
• Dept. of Family Medicine
• Dept. of Physiotherapy

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Related Research and Activities

• National Research Foundation (NRF) under
  Institutional Research and Development Programme.
  
• Niche Theory-based Public Health Intervention
  Research (2008-2011).

• School of Public Health is offering a Short
  course and Certificate courses for the region and
  internationally.
• Symposiums and workshops for all stake
  stakeholders.

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Related Research Experiences

• Worked and published in the field of hepatitis B
  virus (HBV) and HIV co-infection with funding
  from the BWTS Flemish Community (2002-2003), NRF
  (2002- 2008), VLIR Own Initiative Project
  Improvement of the health of future generations
  by strengthening infant immunisation programmes
  in SA (2003-2008).
• South African Vaccination and Immunisation Centre
  (SAVIC), an academic-public alliance between the
  University of Limpopo, University of Antwerp.
• Intervention research and published widely in
  physical activities, nutritional status,
  nutritional intake, food and cultural sensitive,
  health risk behaviours, and NCDs.
• Country surveys and published widely in the areas
  of youth sexuality and HIV/AIDS, and sexuality
  education interventions.

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Strength of The Team

• Diversity and Multidisciplinary.
• Strong interdepartmental and
• interpersonal relationship.
• Gender balance and sensitivity.
• Good linkages with stakeholders.

• Collaboration with local research councils and
  institutes
• International linkages i.e. North-South-South
  with Finland and others.
• Published books and articles in research fields .

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Areas of Intervention Research

• 2010 to 2014
• Obesity intervention research
• HIV and STIs intervention research
• HBV vaccination in HCWs
• The anti-vaccination lobby in SA
• 2015 to 2019
• Monitoring and evaluation of above interventions
• Refining and adapting to specific settings

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Rational for Intervention Research

• More than 50 of S Africans are overweight /
  obese, with a rising prevalence of cardiovascular
  disease and type 2 diabetes.
• HIV/AIDS is responsible for the decline in life
  expectancy to less than 40 years of age in five
  sub-Saharan African countries, yet there is still
  no effective prevention intervention
• SA HCWs are at high risk for acquiring HBV, which
  is 100 times more infectious than HIV, yet very
  few are vaccinated against HBV
• Little is known about the anti-vaccination lobby
  in SA, which could be a major reason for
  sub-optimal coverage with the Expanded Programme
  on Immunisation

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Overall and Specific Objective(s)

• Overall objectives
• (Dev) Burden of diseases in South Africa is
  reduced.
• (Ac) Knowledge about public health intervention
  research in South Africa is increased.
• Specific objectives
• (Dev) Effective public health interventions
  targeting specific diseases are available.
• (Ac) Capacity in public health intervention
  research at University of Limpopo is increased.

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Intermediate Results

• IR1 Effective models / policies for selected
  diseases and risk factors are developed and
  available for use by all stakeholders.
•  IR2 Manual for implementing models available
  for adoption.
•  IR3 The intervention model /policy presented to
  stakeholders.
• IR4 Staff competence in Public Health
  Intervention research is increased.
•  IR5 Well equipped training programmes and
  facilities.
•  IR6 Post graduate students have been trained in
  public health intervention research.
• IR7 The intervention models/ policy adopted by
  stakeholders (local, regional).

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Major Activities

• Development related activities
• Recommendations and evidence-based guidelines
  will be developed for obesity, HIV/STIs,
  vaccination advocacy and related models
• Formulate national policy on HBV vaccination and
  training of HCWs
•  Workshop with stakeholders to develop manual for
  implementing models.
• Research related
• Develop training programmes related to
  intervention research and facilities.
• Staff and students will be trained in
  intervention research methodology.
• Adapt existing effective intervention models
  for research projects
• Develop new intervention models and policies
• Staff and students research in public health
  interventions
• Quantitative and qualitative data will be
  collected
• Consultations, meetings, and networking for
  intervention models / policies to be adopted by
  stakeholders.

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Prospective Flemish Project Partners

• Strong interest in
• Obesity interventions (nutrition, physical
  activity, weight loss)
• HIV and STIs interventions
• Policy development for HBV vaccination in HCWs
• Countering the anti-vaccination lobby
• Should be willing to be involved in
• Training in intervention research methodology at
  an advanced level
• Statistic training for staff and doctoral
  students
• Sharing of successful model/ instruments
• Knowledge management and integration
• Mentor and Co-supervision of master and doctoral
  students

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Thank You For Your Attention