KHRC Hosts Wellcome Trust Climate and Health Outcomes Data Analysis Workshop
November 11, 2024 | News Feed | Reading time: 4 min
The Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC) has hosted an intensive five-day climate and health outcomes data analysis workshop, aimed at strengthening the analytical skills of its Wellcome Trust team and fostering collaboration. The workshop aimed to enable team members to collaboratively analyze and assess the effects of climate change on health outcomes, including mortality.
The workshop, held from Monday, 4 to Friday, 8 November 2024 at KHRC, brought together study teams from KHRC, Navrongo Health Research Centre (NHRC), Dodowa Health Research Centre (DHRC), Colombia university, Montana State University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Participants received training in Python and R, two statistical programming languages, to perform detailed analyses on climate and health datasets. Data presentations were made, enabling participants to interpret findings together and refine methodologies for future research on climate change and health outcomes. A data analysis plan was also developed during the workshop to guide further analysis throughout the study’s duration.
In his welcome address, Prof. Kwaku Poku Asante, Director of KHRC, urged participants to take ownership of the Wellcome Trust study, emphasizing the importance of actively contributing to its successful implementation. He stressed that the workshop provided an excellent opportunity for the study’s team members and collaborators to collaborate, exchange ideas, and explore effective strategies for combining, extracting, analyzing, and sharing the datasets collected throughout the project.
Prof. Asante also emphasized the critical need for equitable distribution of research findings, adding that, “As data sharing becomes increasingly important, we must ensure strict adherence to data protection policies throughout the project."
Facilitators of the training included Dr. Kwaku Poku Asante, Dr. Cascade Tuholske, Ms. Stephaney Gyaase, Dr. Timothy Awine, Mr. Japhet Anim and Dr. Edmund Yamba.
The Wellcome Trust study, funded by Wellcome Trust UK, is a three-year project led by KHRC in collaboration with NHRC, DHRC, KNUST, Columbia University, ISMMS, and MSU. The study seeks to evaluate the health impacts of climate change in West Africa, utilizing data from Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) and cohort studies to assess climate-related health outcomes and identify vulnerability and resilience factors that can inform policy and practice.
