About Us

We established CHAMPS in Ethiopia in 2017 through the Haraghe Health Research (HHR) partnership, a joint research initiative between Haramaya University (HU) and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). The name Hararghe is adapted from the name of the area that covers most of the eastern Oromia, Harar and Dire Dawa areas in Eastern Ethiopia.

This area is a home for highly populated dominantly agrarian
society. Haramaya University is also located in the Hararghe area. CHAMPS remains the biggest project under HHR and following the study findings several other studies were conducted and new studies emerged. HHR works in the advancement of health sciences research through strengthening research and surveillance capacity, ensuring best practices in research and informing policy in maternal and child health in Ethiopia.

HHR is embedded in the College of Health and Medical Sciences at Haramaya University. Its field activities are going in the catchment population of predefined sub-districts in Harar, Kersa, and Haramaya districts in Eastern Ethiopia. In addition, it does its activities in all health facilities in the catchment.

Mission

Produce cutting-edge health information for maternal and child health decision making at all levels.

Vision

Evidence based best practice in maternal and child health.

Study sites

HIWOT FANA COMPREHENSIVE SPECIALIZED HOSPITAL

Death notification system was established at HFH by a joint work of CHAMPS staff (field workers, research nurses, medical officers, health officers and counselors) and permanent hospital staff with the aim to detect more than 90% of stillbirth, neonatal and under-5 child deaths occurring at HFH. 

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KERSA DISTRICT

A collaboration with the Kersa district Health Centers was established, identifying permanent staff of the health Centers in the districts to collaborate with CHAMPS.

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HARAMAYA DISTRICT

Haramaya DSS was added as CHAMPS catchment area in June 2020. We started with enrolment at HFH while the Social Sciences team started formative research and community engagement activities at community level.

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Where we work

HHR operates in the three sites Harar, in East Hararghe and Haramaya and kersa, Oromia region.

How HHR operates

HHR has different methodologies operating on maternal and child health.

Research Findings

The research findings pass through a vigorous process in finding the cause of death in children under five and disclosing the data to stakeholders working on child health.

Next step

Now we have the data, what’s next? Beyond sharing our data with the family, community, and different stakeholders. We have been doing small Interventions (family empowerment, TOT and on job trainings for health center and hospital employees.

Directors

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Prof. Anthony Scott

Professor of Vaccine Epidemiology

FRCP FMedSc PI at HHR

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Prof. Nega Assefa


Professor of Reproductive Health Maternal and Child Health, 

Haramaya University Co-PI at HHR

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Address

Haramaya Univeristy College of Health Medical Science, Harar Ethiopia

Call Us

+251258670395

Email Us

info@hararghe.org

location

Death notification system was established at HFH by a joint work of CHAMPS staff (field workers, research nurses, medical officers, health officers and counselors) and permanent hospital staff with the aim to detect more than 90% of stillbirth, neonatal and under-5 child deaths occurring at HFH. Our clinical team (health officers, nurses, counselors, pathologist, and the team coordinator) were trained on how to get Minimally Invasive Procedures Sampling (MITS) in Hospital Central de Maputo, Mozambique by a specialized team coming from Barcelona Institute of Global Health, Spain. Ten fieldworkers and permanent staff of the hospital, nurses, residents, and senior physician have been trained on CHAMPS objectives and death notification. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for hospital clinical activities were completed and approved by the Program Office of Emory University and all staff involved in CHAMPS activities were trained to follow them. The MITS are being done in the MITS room built in the hospital

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A collaboration with the Kersa district Health Centers was established, identifying permanent staff of the health Centers in the districts to collaborate with CHAMPS. Two nurses in each health center, currently working at maternity and under-5 OPD have been trained on CHAMPS activities and death notification. More than 200 members of the community have been identified with the support of the Social Science team and trained on CHAMPS activities and death notification for stillbirths and under 5 deaths, in both community and facility deaths, in the Kersa catchment area. These death notifiers are influential people in their community, and are mainly community extension workers, religious leaders, traditional birth attendants, militia (with huge influence at community level), “kerrol” (community organization of young people), other community leaders or DSS data collectors or supervisors. Regular refresher trainings on CHAMPS activities and monitoring of the death notifiers performance is done in clusters (by a cluster supervisor selected among the most active death notifiers) and new death notifiers are continuously recruited to replace the passive ones. SOPs for community clinical activities were completed and approved by the Program Office of Emory University and all staff involved in CHAMPS activities have been trained to follow them. At Kersa Health Centre we built a MITS room, a counselling room, and a storeroom with a fridge to store bodies.

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Haramaya DSS was added as CHAMPS catchment area in June 2020. We started with enrolment at HFH while the Social Sciences team started formative research and community engagement activities at community level. A collaboration with the Haramaya district Health Centers started in September 2020 by identifying permanent staff of the health Centers in the districts to collaborate with CHAMPS. A midwife in each health center were trained on CHAMPS activities and death notification. At the same date, we started the training of community members are death notifiers, with the support of the Social Science team and trained on CHAMPS activities and death notification for stillbirths and under 5 deaths, in both community and facility deaths, in the Haramaya catchment area. These death notifiers, same than Kersa, are influential people in their community. In December 2020, we established an active mortality surveillance at Haramaya Hospital, training the hospital staff on CHAMPS activities for death notification as well as allocating CHAMPS staff 24h, 7 days in the week in the hospital. SOPs for community clinical activities were completed and approved by the Program Office of Emory University and all staff involved in CHAMPS activities have been trained to follow them. An office, a MITS room, a counselling room, and a storeroom are currently being built at Haramaya hospital. In the time being, the eligible cases are being transported to Harar or Kersa (according to the closer MITS room to the family house) for MITS procedures.

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                             Prof. Anthony Scott

Professor of Vaccine Epidemiology, FRCP FMedSci
PI at HHR

   

 

 

Professor Anthony Scott is a British clinician and epidemiologist with an interest in bacterial infectious diseases and vaccination. He trained in clinical medicine at Oxford University and in epidemiology at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and did post-graduate clinical training in Infectious Diseases. Since 1993 he has worked at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya. Since 2013 he has been Professor of Vaccine Epidemiology at LSHTM and co-founded HHR with Professor Nega Assefa and Anna Seale in 2016 as a programme to host the CHAMPS project and encourage research capacity development in Harar. He has worked on clinical vaccine development and impact studies of vaccines against pneumococcus, Haemophilus influenzae, non-typhoidal salmonella, COVID-19 and other pathogens. Professor Scott also has an interest in the aetiology of serious childhood illnesses (e.g. pneumonia) and childhood death. He works on vaccine policy in the policy committees of the UK (JCVI) and WHO (SAGE).

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HHR
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      Dr. Nega Assefa Kassa                   

Professor of Reproductive Health, Maternal and Child Health, Haramaya University,CHAMPS Ethiopia site director.

 

 

 

Professor Nega Assefa (PhD), a high-ranking faculty member and researcher in the College of Health and Medical Sciences and professor of Maternal and child.

Professor Nega received his third-degree education in Public Health (Maternal and Child Health) in the College of Health and Medical Sciences of Haramaya University, and he became the firstborn of the Collage’s PhD program in 2012. His dissertation was titled “Pregnancy rate and outcomes in rural eastern Ethiopia Fetal and Neonatal survival”. Dr. Nega has also obtained a certificate of Executive Program in Global Health Leadership from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.

Professor Nega (PhD) has been serving with perceptible dedication at different capacities in CHMS of Haramaya University since 1993. Besides course offerings, he has been researching and co-researching several maternal health, child and adolescent health, family planning, neonatal and child health, and sexual and reproductive health issues, in partnership with  fellows from several overseas universities and research institutions including Johns Hopkins and Harvard Schools of Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Emory University Global Health Institute, Karolinska Institute and Vienna University in Austria.  Professor Nega mentored students at PhD and master’s levels. He has been supervising and co-supervising 19 PhD students from University of Durban, South Africa, Ghana, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Haramaya Universities. Similarly, he has been also supervising 215 master’s students as a lead advisor and a co-supervisor.

Professor Nega, collaborating with his colleagues, has been able to secure 11 grants contributing to advancing health sciences, and building human resources and infrastructures. Together with his colleagues, through the CHAMPS data to action grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other granting agencies, he created an opportunity for eight PhD scholarships at the LSHTM and through the CHAMPS pregnancy surveillance availed human power and equipment to health facilities in the CHAMPS catchment areas of Harar, Kersa and Haramaya districts. Professor Nega is a co-principal investigator for the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) – Ethiopia project, which started in 2017.

Prior to CHAMPS Professor Nega led Harar and Haramaya Health and Demographic Surveillance (HDSS) systems, one of the largest surveillance system in Africa. He was leading these facilities for more than 12 years at different sites in Kersa, Harar and Haramaya. Since 2018, he has led the inception and running of Hararghe Health Research (HHR) partnerships, a research collaborative effort between Haramaya University and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which has led to the birth of a state-of-the-art research laboratory that conducts microbiology, molecular diagnostics and histopathology and provides diagnostic services for Hiwot Fana University Hospital.

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