Evidence Aid newsletter: 16 May 2022
Welcome to the May 2022 newsletter from Evidence Aid. Please forward it to anyone who might be interested. If they would like to receive our newsletters directly, they should email info@evidenceaid.org.
Recruiting a Senior Researcher: We are looking for a part-time Senior Researcher to work about 3 days per week on our Resilient Health Systems collection, for six months from June. Are you able to summarise complex information from systematic reviews and identify key research gaps? Can you manage a small international team, pay attention to detail and deliver projects on time? If you can and are interested in this post, please email Claire (callen@evidenceaid.org) for more information.
New projects: This new post is to work with us to expand our Resilient Health Systems collection, in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization. We will also be working with the World Health Organization to further develop the Knowledge Hub for the WHO Guidance on Research Methods for Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management.
Ukraine: In response to the war in the Ukraine, we are preparing new summaries to add to our Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers collection and we will also be adding summaries for reviews relevant to the physical and mental health consequences of war. If you would like to help in this work, please let us know (info@evidenceaid.org).
Some recent evidence summaries
Health impacts of unconditional cash transfers for reducing poverty and vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries (In our Resilient Health Systems collection.)
Unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) are used to try to reduce poverty and vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries, thereby addressing a key social determinant of health. This review found that UCTs probably or may improve some health outcomes, increase the likelihood of attending school and reduce extreme poverty.
Suicide rates and suicidal behaviour in displaced people (In our Health of Refugees and Asylum Seekers and Resilient Health Systems collections.)
Refugees and others who are forcibly displaced by conflict face mental distress and are at higher risk of suicide. This review found that suicide rates varied considerably, from 4 to 290 per 100,000 person-years while the prevalence of suicide attempts ranged from 0.4% to 15.1%. There was a lower risk of suicide among refugees granted asylum compared to the host country population but a higher risk among asylum seekers, and a higher risk of suicidal ideation among refugees living in camps.
Prophylactic anticoagulants for hospitalized COVID‐19 patients (In our Covid-19 collection)
Some COVID-19 patients develop blood clots in their veins or arteries and anticoagulants have been suggested as a way to preventing these clots. In this updated Cochrane review, non-randomized studies provided very low certainty evidence that anticoagulants may reduce all‐cause mortality while randomized trials showed that higher‐dose anticoagulants result in little or no difference in all‐cause mortality and increase minor bleeding compared to lower‐dose anticoagulants but probably reduce pulmonary embolism and slightly increase major bleeding.
How else can you help? Please tell us how you use the Evidence Aid resources, with a short email to info@evidenceaid.org. We’d love to hear from you, so that we can ensure we are reflecting your needs.
Volunteers: Our volunteers provide us with a huge amount of support and contribute to searching, screening and downloading reviews, preparing and writing summaries, supporting our website and advising on translations. They are vital to our work, and anyone interested in joining this team of volunteers should email info@evidenceaid.org.
The Evidence Aid team: For information about Evidence Aid staff and interns and our Board of Trustees got to our website.
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