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New directions in building a scientific social network: Experiences in the Supercourse project and application to Central Asia
Get PDFoai:ojs.cajgh.pitt.edu:article/3IntroductionNetworking leaders in the field of public health and medicine is very important for improving health locally and globally, especially in times of disaster.MethodsFishing can best be defined as using an internet search engine to find the name and email address of the person or organization that is being sought.ResultsWith over 500 hours of work, the group compiled a list of nearly 2,000 email addresses of Ministers of Health, deans of the 1,800 medical schools and schools of public health, and heads of medical and public health societies.ConclusionsFishing for deans and others is an important task, albeit just the first step in building a scientific social network. Upon creation of a database of names, other steps must be taken, such as meeting with others, exchanging information, and forming new collaborations before a scientific social network is successfully completed
Missing Millions and Measuring Progress towards the Millenium Development Goals with a focus on Central Asian States
Get PDFBackgroundIn developing countries, population estimates and assessments of progress towards the Millenium Development Goals are based increasingly on household surveys. It is not recognised that they are inappropriate for obtaining information about the poorest of the poor.. This is because they, typically, omit by design: those not in households because they are homeless; those who are in institutions; and mobile, nomadic or pastoralist populations. In addition, in practice, because they are difficult to reach, household surveys will typically under-represent: those in fragile, disjointed or multiple occupancy households; those in urban slums, and may omit certain areas of a country deemed to pose a security risk. Those six sub-groups constitute a pretty comprehensive ostensive definition of the ‘poorest of the poor’.MethodsThis paper documents these omissions in general, drawing on worldwide literature about the theory and practice fo implementing censuses and household surveys; and shows how substantial proportions are missing from both censuses and the sample frames of surveys.ResultsThis paper suggests that between 300 and 350 million will effectively be missed worldwide from the sampling frames of such surveys and from most censuses. The impact on the health MDGs is illustrated for the five republics of the former Soviet Union making up Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and UzbekistanConclusionsIt is impossible to assess progress towards or away from the MDGS in both the Central Asian Republics and worldwide. It is urgent to find solutions to the problem of the ‘missing ‘ poor population sub-groups
