triangle global health 2018 annual conference
Breakout Sessions
MORNING
11:15 am-12:15 pm
Panel: Do drones deliver? Building evidence for medical transport via UAV
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones, hold substantial promise for improving the delivery of medical supplies, but implementation is complex and evidence is lacking. In this session, panelists will discuss how data informs the operationalization of medical drone deliveries in both domestic and international settings and discuss the future of this technology.
Room: #3222
Panel: Innovations in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for improved program design and implementation
Traditional monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of global health projects focuses on data for accountability. Innovative approaches to M&E broadly known as collaborative learning and adapting (CLA) are transforming those data into information to improve development outcomes. CLA helps donors, implementers, and beneficiaries understand programmatic realities and empowers them to improve health programs. In this session, we present three innovative CLA approaches that global health implementers have championed. These experiences are relevant across projects and sectors. They frame CLA as a flexible and evidence-based method to achieve development outcomes, by positioning projects well to respond to beneficiary, country, and donor needs.
Room: Currituck
Panel: The State of Digital Health in International Development
Digital technologies are becoming an important resource for health services delivery and public health. Mobile wireless technologies are particularly relevant, due to their ease of use, broad reach and wide acceptance. In 2015 there were more than 7 billion mobile telephone subscriptions across the world, over 70% of which were in low- or middle- income countries. The World Health Assembly and its member states recognize the potential for digital technologies to reshape healthcare, recently passing a Digital Health resolution calling for increasing levels of coordination and collaboration among funders and ministries of health to expand digital health solutions. Despite this promise, digital health has also seen a proliferation of duplicative pilots and high levels of fragmentation even within the same country. Board Members of the Global Digital Health Network, a 3000+ person strong organization dedicated to sharing and promoting best practices and collaboration in digital health, will present models of effective use of digital health in international programs, and lessons learned in scaling health innovations for maximum impact.
Room: Hatteras
AFTERNOON
1:10-2:10 PM
Panel: Building Digital Commons: Collaboration to accelerate, scale and improve digital health global goods
Global health programs have good intentions to collaborate and avoid implementing duplicative, inefficient programs. This is true for digital health programs, where the field has seen substantial growth in the past decade. Digital Square, an innovative co-investment global program led by PATH aims to serve as a convener in the digital health community, bringing together practitioners to share their work, lessons learned, and future needs. This helps organizations work together to implement digital health tools that are adaptable to different countries and contexts, also known as Global Goods. To foster transparency, collaboration and synergy, Digital Square uses an open proposal platform to align investments in digital health systems. This process provides a unique opportunity for practitioners to learn key details about, and comment on, each other’s tools and implementation plans. This panel will discuss the Digital Square project Open Proposal Process and feature presentations by partners who have received funds through Digital Square: iHRIS Foundation, the Global Open Facility Registry (GOFR) Tool Core Software, and GOFR Implementation in Guinea.
Room: Hatteras
Panel: Problems and solutions from countries transitioning from DAH (donor assistance for health)
From 2000 to 2016, at least 32 countries graduated from low- to middle-income status, thereby becoming ineligible to receive many forms of donor assistance for health (DAH). Sudden loss of foreign aid can shock a country’s health system. In addition to the loss of financing, graduating countries also lose the technical expertise that accompanies donor funding. Countries in this phase of economic development are also facing the epidemiological transition from infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases, putting severe pressure on their health budgets. Donors typically use a country’s national GNI per capita to determine when that country will graduate (e.g., countries start graduating from Gavi support once their GNI per capita reaches $1580). However, national level indicators can mask significant sub-national inequities. Most poor people now live in “pockets of poverty” in middle-income countries. Graduation could potentially worsen such within-country inequities. This panel will address critical questions facing donors and graduating countries.
Room: Currituck
Workshop: Co-design for ideation: Techniques to encourage thinking out of the box
Human-centered design (HCD) is a creative, solutions-based approach to problem solving that places the users at the center of the design and implementation process, increasing the likelihood of lasting impact. HCD is a multi-stage, interactive, and iterative process that prioritizes an individual’s lived experiences and seeks to identify solutions to address context-specific challenges. One component of the HCD process is ideation, or engaging users in idea generation, prototyping, and refinement of solutions. The workshop will begin with a broad overview of the HCD process, followed by hands-on instruction in four distinct ideation activities. Participants will rotate between a series of stations, each led by a facilitator, and engage in a deeper dive of ideation activities.
Room: Ocracoke
Workshop: The Calla Campaign: Fusing engineering, medicine, storytelling and art to empower, raise awareness and create a space for positive dialogue about female reproductive anatomy
Across many cultures, women experience abuse, shame, and lack of knowledge about their reproductive anatomy, particularly the cervix. The majority of women in America, and perhaps globally, do not know what their cervix looks like. This lack of awareness about the cervix can reduce women’s willingness to take care of their cervix, for example through undergoing cervical cancer screening. We have begun a novel empowerment initiative that integrates technology, storytelling, and art - the Calla Campaign - to change the narrative of invisibility and shame surrounding women's reproductive health, and to educate women to make informed decisions regarding their reproductive health. Our team, which consists of engineers, physicians, historians, humanists, global health researchers, and artists, presents one example of how expanding women’s access to their own bodies may be a tool for the promotion of women’s self-realization, reproductive choices, and independence.
Room: #3222
Workshop: Outbreak Preparedness and Response Planning: The Critical Role of Communication
Well-planned and well-executed communications, at every stage of a crisis or emergency response, can help reduce deaths and suffering. In the event of a disease outbreak, careful internal information sharing and external communication to various audiences are essential for effective multisectoral preparedness and response. When an outbreak occurs at a local level, it is important to have clear channels to communicate information up through the government so relevant authorities and the local community are informed accurately and in a timely fashion. At the same time, low cost and locally appropriate Information, Communication Technology (ICT) solutions can enhance on-the-ground sentinel surveillance and improve timely information exchange for internal communication and external outreach to reduce risk. This session will explore a real-world scenario of risk communication related to avian influenza in Vietnam through a short presentation and an applied simulation structured around the 2018 WHO guidelines on risk communication in emergencies and the USAID Preparedness and Response Planning toolkit.
Room: Ocracoke
