Research News

The BMJ Group recently announced the shortlist for its Getting Research Into Practice award which aims to recognise those who have successfully introduced evidence-based improvements into patient care. The Sexual Health and HIV Evidence into Practice (SHHEP) group was one of the four initiatives shortlisted. SHHEP is a joint project of 4 DFID-funded consortia:

• Realising Rights;
• Programme for Research and Capacity Building in Reproductive and Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS in Developing Countries;
• Addressing the Balance and Burden of HIV/AIDS (ABBA), and
• Evidence for Action (EFA)

SHHEP, led by Sally Theobald at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Jo Crichton of the African Population and Health Research Center, was nominated for the award by DFID. SHHEP is conducting research to understand the connections between research, policy and practice, and is using the work of the 4 programmes to learn how research can be used to combat sexual and reproductive ill health and HIV in developing countries. The findings of the project, which included extensive interviews with researchers, communications specialists and other stakeholders, and an international workshop, are available online in an issue of insights.

Some of the group's successes are highlighted in a BMJ news article. For example, influence on changes in policy and practice in a number of countries, including Brazil and Ghana, resulted in the introduction of a cheap and easy to use dipstick test to screen pregnant women for syphilis and thereby reduce infant mortality.

The four shortlisted submissions were selected from a total of 127. The final winner of the award will be announced at the BMJ Group Awards ceremony at the London Hilton on 10 March, 2010.

More information

• News article on the Realising Rights website
• BMJ Group awards
• BMJ article about the awards - Making the Evidence Matter - (BMJ 2010; 340:c305) NB.- subscription required for full access
• The DFID-funded Research Programme Consortia: Realising Rights; Programme for Research and Capacity Building on Sexual and Reproductive Health in Developing Countries; Addressing the Balance and Burden of HIV/AIDS (ABBA); Evidence for Action (EFA)