Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
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To assess the state of national health research systems of countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region. ⋯ National health research systems were weak in the countries assessed. Significantly more resources should be allocated to strengthening these systems.
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To describe the current status of institutional facilities and the supporting research infrastructure of surveyed health research institutions in Africa, including information on communication technologies and connectivity, library resources, and laboratory operations and resources. ⋯ Health research institutions in the Region have insufficient access to essential facilities such as laboratories, libraries, computers and the Internet to generate, access and share information.
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Comparative Study
Risk of self-harm and suicide in people with specific psychiatric and physical disorders: comparisons between disorders using English national record linkage.
Background Psychiatric illnesses are known risk factors for self-harm but associations between self-harm and physical illnesses are less well established. We aimed to stratify selected chronic physical and psychiatric illnesses according to their relative risk of self-harm. Design Retrospective cohort studies using a linked dataset of Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for 1999-2011. ⋯ Conclusions Psychiatric illnesses carry a greatly increased risk of self-harm as well as of suicide. Many chronic physical illnesses are also associated with an increased risk of both self-harm and suicide. Identifying those at risk will allow provision of appropriate monitoring and support.
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To estimate the sources of funds for health research (revenue) and the uses of these funds (expenditure). ⋯ Research on major health problems of the Region, such as communicable diseases, accounts for most of the research expenditures. However, the total expenditure is very low compared with other WHO regions.
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To identify key data sources of health information and describe their availability in countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region. ⋯ A multitude of data sources are used to track progress towards health-related goals in the Region, with heavy reliance on household surveys for most indicators. Countries need to develop comprehensive national plans for health information that address the full range of data needs and data sources and that include provision for building national capacities for data generation, analysis, dissemination and use.