Riding and Sliding for a better health!

Fourteen researchers from seven projects in Latin America (Peru, Bolivia, Argentine, Mexico, Guatemala) came together in Mexico from 12-14 September to complete the methodology and overall framework for the Mobility and Health research. The projects involved range from assessing the health impact of Amazon communities dependent on water transport in Peru to looking at mobile health clinics and transport issues in Bolivia.

The workshop was the last one in a series of three: from 15-17 of August nine Asian researchers from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, India gathered in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to build upon the work the African researchers set in motion the previous week during a training workshop in Uganda. In Uganda 11 researchers from Uganda, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Zimbabwe came together all with the same objective.

The researchers will soon embark on a study to further assess the relationship between mobiity and health from a variety of angles and pespectives. Topics such as the impact of rural roads on health are included as well as the potential of intermediate means of transport to help facilitate better access to health services.  

During the launch workshops the researchers all had one thng on their mind: to help finalise the overall Terms of Reference and analytical framework of the 24 case studies the researchers will carry out to generate a stronger evidence base to the Mobility and Health paradigm. Part of the Networked Research approach, this was done through helping to complete the Research Guidance Manual which will help plan and carry out the research. With the aid of participatory exercises such as the World Cafe the researchers helped provide the content of the manual. The Manual focuses on data collection, disaggregating data and working successfully with communities. In addition a web site demonstration was done in which the researchers learned how to add more content to this web site.   

The Research Guidance Manual will go online by the 30th of September. In addition short bios of each researcher and abstracts of each project will be added to the case studies section, so please visit us again soon at www.mobilityandhealth.org!