14 January 2018 – The TDR Special Programme, in collaboration with academic and research institutions, has developed a training programme entitled “Good Health Research Practice”.  The aim of the course is to impart knowledge and skills for the application of ethical and quality principles in the design, conduct, recording and reporting of health research in humans.

In this regard, a course was conducted from 22 to 25 December 2017 in Hammamet, Tunisia, introducing key elements of good health research practice such as:

• principles of research ethics and quality
• designing and planning the research
• study planning and management
• developing the research protocol, informed consent form
• tools for collecting data, stakeholders, study team and study sites
• research oversight, conducting, recording and monitoring the research, managing and analysing data, quality system
• evaluating and reporting the research and reporting and disseminating research results.

The workshop included 38 participants from 12 countries namely Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Sudan and Tunisia. Workshop facilitators were from the Pasteur Institute of Tunis, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and Baghdad University. Using the guide that was developed and modified after piloting the course in several countries in a variety of settings, the participants worked on refining and modifying their own projects based on their discussion with the course faculty and their fellow delegates.