The entire research program, which will run for three years, will cost more than 50 million pesos to support activities of two groups of researchers. Aside from the DLSHSI team, there was also a counterpart team from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) in the United Kingdom. This project is part of the Newton Agham Program or the UK-Philippines Joint Heath Research Grant for Infectious Diseases.
The project, entitled “Impact Assessment of Diagnostic Tools for Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR-TB) and Drug Sensitive Tuberculosis (DS-TB) in the Philippines” is touted as an important component of the Philippine’s fight against TB which continues to be the 6th largest cause of illness and death among Filipinos. While the Philippines, through its National TB Program (NTP), has made great headway in controlling TB infection in the country, detection rates for the more potent MDR-TB is still low. In the province of Cavite, only 35% of suspected MDR-TB cases are actually detected. While this is better compared to the WHO’s global rate of 12%-16%, in the Philippines, the burden of TB is doubly heavy because of the increasing cost of diagnosis and management and most of those infected are poor and rely only on the government’s health infrastructure.
“It is important that we develop appropriate strategies that will help health practitioners provide patients with cost effective options for diagnosis,” says Dr. Charles Yu, the project’s primary investigator. Dr. Yu is a professor at DLSHSI’s College of Medicine and is currently the Vice Chancellor for Lasallian Mission. He is a renowned pulmonologist and expert in TB, especially in the Asia-Pacific region and serves as a WHO consultant on Public-Private Management of the TB DOTS program. He is currently the president of the Global TB Alliance, and is the head of the Asia Pacific Society’s TB assembly. He was also a member of The Union TB Education Working Group.
Dr. Yu was aided by his co-investigators who are among DLSHSI’s noted researchers in TB, infectious diseases, and health economics. The Philippines team is composed of Dr. Victoria Dalay, Dr. Victor Mendoza, Dr. Jovilia Abong, and Ms. Celine Garfin.
Dr. Victoria Dalay is the director for Research Support and Extension Services at DLSHSI’s Angelo King Medical Research Center (DLSHSI-AKMRC) and is the head of DLSHSI’s Programmatic Management of Drug-resistant TB (PMDT) Treatment Center. She is co-chair of the Regional Coordinating Committee that leads the TB Control Program in Region IV-A and helped develop a plan of action to control TB for 2014-2016. She has also been the site investigator for USAID and NIH projects.
Dr. Victor Mendoza is a health economist based at DLSHSI who has published award-winning cost-effectiveness studies in his field of specialization – internal medicine and cardiology.
Dr. Jovilia Abong is an internist with a subspecialty in allergy and clinical immunology. She chairs of the Clinical Epidemiology Department of DLSHSI’s College of Medicine and is the director of Research Administration and Development.
Ms. Garfin is the manager of the Department of Health’s National Program for TB and has published numerous articles on TB surveillance. She is the government’s point person for all TB related activities in the country.
Dr. Yu’s team was complemented by a UK team that was composed of scientists from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, which has been a key partner in the TREAT-TB initiative responsible for impact assessment, as well as health economics and operational modeling.
An expert in Clinical Tropical Medicine, Professor S. Bertel Squire is director of the Center for Applied Health Research and Delivery (CAHRD) of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and past president of The International Union Against TB and Lung Disease. Together with his colleagues at LSTM, Malawi, and China, he has built a program of multi-disciplinary applied health research aimed at providing knowledge for action in making health services for TB more accessible to poor people in developing countries. He was joined in the DLSHSI study by Mr. Ivor Langley, a research analyst at LSTM who is an expert in health systems modeling. Mr. Langley has also been involved in developing an innovative modeling approach for impact assessment of new diagnostic tools and treatments for TB and MDR-TB. The British team is completed by Dr. Elvis Gama, a health economist at LSTM whose current research includes the evaluation of catastrophic costs for patients seeking TB diagnosis and cost effectiveness evaluations of new MDR-TB regimens.
Source: http://www.dlshsi.edu.ph/news/dlshsi-to-spearhead-50m-research-on-tb
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A Device for the Blind gets Multiple Awards, PhP 1.03M from USAid STRIDE
The device is a system which allows visually impaired people to detect and evade obstacles. It comprises a microcontroller-based embedded design that can measure the distance to the near objects through the use of ultrasonic, which generates high-frequency sound waves and evaluates the echo which is received back by the sensor. When a nearby obstacle is detected, the device notifies the user through a sound and vibration.
In 2014, Ma. Corazon Curiano, ChillaUy, Bryan Garabilis, ArwilRoyandoyan and LeeanIlao, fifth year Computer Engineering students under the advice of Engr. Jon Alvin Macariola developed an Obstacle Detection and Evasion System for Visually Impaired People. This project won as Outstanding Research Project in Samar State University in March 2014 from among the 30 projects in the competition.
In 2015, a fifth year computer engineering student then, Raven Tabiongan, also under the advice of Engr. Macariola, submitted an enhanced version of the project to the 2015 Regional Invention Contest and Exhibits (RICE 2015) under the Creative Research-Sibol Awards (College Category) of which he won.
The project was further enhanced and was submitted for the 2016 National Invention Contest and Exhibits (NICE 2015) competition as Region 8 entry in the same category. This was adjudged second among the entries from other regions. The wearable device for visually impaired people likewise won National Prize for the 2016 Alfredo M. Yao Intellectual Property Awards (AMY National IP Awards).
Late last year, the project was submitted to a technology pitching competition dubbed as SYNERGY 2016. The event was a venue where leaders/enthusiasts in science and technology research and innovation gathered to discuss current and future trends in high-impact sectors and industries. Conducted by the United States Agency for International Development – Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (USAID-STRIDE) in cooperation with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPhil), the group selected the wearable device as the second place winner.
Seeing the potential of the project for commercial application, a grant of PhP 1.03M was awarded to Samar State University (SSU) to further refine the device, specifically on its wearability. Establishment of an industry partner to manufacture said device for commercialization is among the targets of this award.
It is noted that visual impairment is a public health problem, according to World Health Organization (WHO). A 2010 study of the organization says that there are about 285 million visually impaired people, 39 million of them are totally blind. Of the total number, 12.05 million are in South East Asian Region. The study of Saaddine et.al (2003) also explains why it is considered a health problem and how people perceive it to be a threat to the public.
The report further disclosed that visual impairment contributes a large burden in terms of morbidity, quality of life and cost, thereby perceived as threat to the public. Based on the 2011-2016 National Unified Health Research Agenda (NUHRA) of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), studies and/or projects targeting persons with disabilities (PWD) are not yet among the priority areas for research.
Technologies designed to help ease the lives of PWDs like the wearable device for visually impaired people, are not included in the NHURA and RUHRA. There are, however, efforts to address PWD concerns by the health sector in the Philippines.
In 2013, a Medium Term Strategic Plan (2013-2017) was developed to strengthen the existing health program for PWDs, which may result the inclusion of PWD- related researches in the NUHRA.
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EVHRDC Commenced its First Institutional Visit Cum Research Information Committee (RIC) Meeting on 2017 at Samar State University
Catbalogan City, Samar. February 2, 2017 --- The EVHRDC – RIC members and Committee Chairs together with Ms. Anicia P. Catameo had gathered and conducted its first institutional visit at Samar State University (SSU), Catbalogan Samar.
The SSU had been actively participating the EVHRDC activities for the past several years, hence, SSU has been chosen by the EVHRDC to be visited this CY 2017. The institutional visit aims to promote EVHRDC and be able to come up with health related research studies for possible funding this year.
During the visit, the Orientation on EVHRDC was conducted by Dr. Lucia P. Dauz the EVHRDC Coordinator, then discussed an Overview of the PCHRD/DOH Regional Research Fund (RRF) which was presided by Ms. Catameo and Call for health related research proposals by the EVHRDC staff during the morning. On the other hand, the RIC meeting was held on the afternoon where Committee members of RIC and Committee chairs (ERC, CBC, RMC) had been invited for the reconciliation of CY 2017 Work and Financial Plan (WFP) and other concerns were also discussed.
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USC Biology grad wins at Philppine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week Poster Exhibit Contest
Norman Quilantang, a magna cum laude BS Biology graduate last March 2016 of the Department of Biology of the University of San Carlos (USC) and the representative of Central Visayas, won second prize in the National Research Paper Poster Presentation (Student Category) contest during the 10th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week celebration held at the Citystate Asturias Hotel, Puerto Princesa, Palawan from August 8 to 12, 2016.
His paper was entitled “Isolation and in vitro characterization of adipose derived stem cells from Rattus norvegicus Berkenhout (Rodentia: Muridae)” and was co-authored by Vanessa May Ybañez, Crecialyn Pulvera, Dr. Rommel Bacabac (Chair, Department of Physics), and Dr. Frances Edillo (Thesis Adviser, Department of Biology). The study was in collaboration with Dr. Jenneke Klein Nulend of Vrije University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Norman’s PNHRS presentation was funded by Central Visayas Consortium for Health Research and Development.
The 10th PNHRS Week celebration had the theme “Research and Innovation for Health and the Environment” and was hosted by the MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) Health Research and Development Consortium (MHRDC), together with the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD).
Norman has just moved on to Chung-Ang University, Department of Integrative Plant Science, Anseong, South Korea to start his master’s degree under the Chung-Ang University Asian Young Scientist Scholarship (CAYSS) award.
Source: Dr. Frances Edillo; Department of Biology; September 5, 2016