Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
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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 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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To describe the status of health information systems in 14 sub-Saharan African countries of the World Health Organization African Region. ⋯ National health information systems are weak in the surveyed countries and much more needs to be done to improve the quality and relevance of data, and their management, sharing and use for policy-making and decision-making.
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To describe human capacity and staff movement in national health research institutions in 42 sub-Saharan African countries. ⋯ The study revealed significant gaps in the area of human capacity development for research in Africa. The results showed a serious shortage of qualified staff engaged in health research, with a dearth of staff that held at least a master's degree or doctoral degree. Major efforts will be required to strengthen human resource capacity, including addressing the lack of motivation or time for research on the part of existing capable staff.
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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.