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NiSH (NITAG Support Hub) : Information Portal: Home

This LibGuide is intended to lead you through the process of finding information on the Vaccines for Africa Initiative (VACFA)

NiSH

The NiSH Activities are aimed to serve NITAGs in order to:
 

·Optimise political awareness, adaptive and responsive management that meets changing needs in a timely manner.

·Contribute to changes that strengthen and expand a culture of knowledge and information sharing among stakeholders. 

·Operate optimally with appropriate staffing and be responsive, accountable and transparent.

·Have high ratings from users and stakeholders

·Provide equitable services

Vaccinology

Moïsi, J., Madhi, S.A. and Rees, H., 2019. Vaccinology in sub-Saharan Africa. BMJ global health, 4(5), p.e001363.
https://gh.bmj.com/content/4/5/e001363.full
Abstract:
We undertook a landscape analysis of vaccinology research and training in sub-Saharan Africa in order to identify key gaps and opportunities for capacity development in the field . We conducted interviews with regional and global immunisation experts, reviewed university and research centre websites, searched the scientific literature and analysed donor databases as part of our mapping exercise. We found that (1) few vaccinology training programmes are available in the region; (2) vaccinology research sites are numerous but unevenly distributed across countries and subregions and of widely varying capacity; (3) donor funding favours HIV, tuberculosis and malaria vaccine development over other high-burden diseases; (4) lack of vaccine design, manufacturing and regulatory capacity slows the progress of new vaccines through the research and development pipeline and (5) vaccine implementation research garners limited support. Regional efforts to strengthen African vaccinology expertise should develop advanced vaccinology training programmes, support clinical trial and implementation research sites in geographic areas with limited capacity and conduct multidisciplinary research to help design, license and roll out new vaccines.
 
Amponsah-Dacosta, E., Muloiwa, R., Wiysonge, C.S., Gold, M., Hussey, G. and Kagina, B.M., 2021. Developing vaccinology expertise for Africa: fifteen years and counting. The Pan African Medical Journal, 38.
Abstract:
For 15 years, the Annual African Vaccinology Course (AAVC) hosted by the Vaccines for Africa Initiative, has been at the forefront of vaccinology training in Africa. The AAVC was developed in 2005 in response to the growing demand for vaccinology training in Africa. To date, 958 policy makers, immunization managers, public and private health practitioners, scientists, postgraduate and postdoctoral students have been trained. These participants are from 44 of the 54 African countries. The course content covers diverse topics such as considerations for new vaccine introduction, mathematical modelling, and emerging and re-emerging vaccine preventable diseases. As the landscape of vaccinology continues to evolve, the AAVC aims to expand the reach of vaccinology training using blended learning approaches which will incorporate online and face-to-face formats, while expanding access to this popular course. Ultimately, the AAVC endeavours to develop a big pool of vaccinology expertise in Africa and to strengthen regional ownership for immunization programmes.

The search string

Emphasis on a CLEAR question

How bibliographic databases are searched effectively:

We use keywords, subject terms and Boolean operators.

We call this a search strategy

Find, identify appropriate keywords, subject terms and Boolean operators AND OR NOR

Search Statements – Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research

Example 1:

AND

vaccines AND hesitancy

 

...where A stands for "vaccine" and B stands for "hesitancy"

 

The orange part in the middle will be the result list.

Example 2:

OR

 

The orange part will be the result list. (much larger than in example 1)

All keywords and phrases possible must be identified by way of using Thesauri, Google Scholar, subject headings

We use truncation or wildcards (*?)  to make sure to find everything. 

A search strategy is an organised structure of key terms used to search a database. The search strategy combines the key concepts of your sear

A search string

is a combination of keywords, truncation symbols, and boolean operators you enter into the search box of a library database or search engine