30 November 2022, Cairo – The Regional Office's Department of Science, Information and Dissemination and the WHO headquarters TDR programme held a training workshop on implementation research methods and ethics from 6 to 8 November 2022 in Bahrain, in collaboration with the Arabian Gulf University (AGU). Implementation research is conducted within real-life settings, removed from the controlled situations associated with other types of scientific research. The training was in support of the current (2022-2023) joint Regional Office and Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) Impact Grants Scheme that has supported research on neglected tropical diseases, TB and malaria since 1992. 

H.E. Dr. Jalila bint AlSayed Jawad Hassan, Minister of Health, Bahrain, inaugurated the workshop, and opening remarks were given by Dr Tasnim Atatrah, WHO Representative, Bahrain, and Dr Abdulrahman Yousif Ismael, Vice Chancellor of AGU.

The workshop’s main objectives were to: introduce the concepts of implementation research as they apply to diseases of poverty; apply basic statistical analytical techniques, interpretation and presentation of TDR outcomes; and understand and observe ethical principles in the conduct of research on human subjects. The workshop enabled the participants to enhance the methodological and implementation aspects of their funded proposals.

The participants included TDR grantees from 7 countries, including Islamic Republic of Iran, Morocco, occupied Palestinian territory, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, along with participants from leading Bahraini institutions, including the Ministry of Health and academia. The facilitators were from the WHO Regional office, WHO headquarters, the Institute Pasteur of Tunis (the TDR regional training centre) and the AGU College of Medicine and Medical Sciences.