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NAVRONGO HEALTH RESEARCH CENTRE

In 1989, in the backyard of the War Memorial Hospital, Navrongo, a team of researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi and the Ministry of Health, Ghana, jointly set out to carry out health research. Their agenda was to investigate the impact of repeated large doses of Vitamin A on child survival in the Kassena-Nankana District. The project became known as Ghana VAST (Vitamin A Supplementation Trial)  Upon successful completion of this study the field station was designated a Research Centre by the Ministry of Health and the name changed to Navrongo Health Research Centre (NHRC) in 1992.

After the establishment of NHRC, the first study focused on the efficacy of Insecticide Treated Bednets in the Kassena-Nankana District. Findings from this study fed into a national policy on strategies to control malaria in Ghana.

Today, NHRC is one of three research centres under the Health Research Unit of the Ministry of Health. The other two; are the Kintampo Health Research Centre; in the forest ecological zone and Dangbe West Health Research Centre in Dodowa for the coastal zone.

NHRC is mandated to conduct research into health problems prevailing in the country as a whole but in particular to the rural areas of the Sahelian ecological belt of northern Ghana and advise policymakers on feasible interventions to improve the health of the   it people. To date, health research has focused on malaria, acute respiratory infections, cerebrospinal meningitis, diarrhea, female genital mutilation, lymphatic Filariasis, schistosomiasis and community-based health service delivery.

The Centre is engaged in a wide range of activities encompassing population and biomedical research and the social research that accompanies such research   s activities.   The   Centre   has   a multidisciplinary team of research scientists who are Epidemiologists, Demographers, Parasitologists, Very Senior Nurses. Public Health Physicians, Sociologists, Medical Statisticians, Computer Programmers, Medical Officers and Re-search Assistants.

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     • Location; Upper East Region                         

     • Area: 1,675 square kilometres   

     • Vegetation: Guinea Savannah e   Woodland 1     

    • Climate: One rainy season (May to •   October)    One dry season (November to April)

     • Ethnicity: 5 lNankam 47 Kassim •   and 2 Buili '     

        • Total population: 140,000 (under surveillance)

       • Main occupation: subsistence asri-culture

       • Religion: majority traditional with a third Christian and a minority Muslim.

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The current staff strength of the centre is about 276. This is made of about 32 Research Assistants, Re-searchers, and Senior Research Fellows.

These are mainly Ghanaian. We collaborate with other research Institutions such as the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research. The Population Council, New York, The Swiss Tropical Institute, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Kintampo Health Research Centre, and the Dangbe West Health Research Centre.

 

The Centre reports directly to the Health Research Unit of the Policy, Planning. Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Ghana Health Service. In the performance of its duties, it liaises and collaborates with the Regional Health Administration of the Upper East Region and the District   Health Administration of Kassena-Nankana District.

An Advisory Board is in place to provide guidance and counsel for the work of the Centre. For expediency sake there are two broad but interlacing work groups at the Centre, loosely identified as the Population Group and the Health Group. A ma-jor activity is the Community Health and family Planning Project. Others are the Fe-male Genital Mutilation Project and the Adolescent Health Project.

 

The Health Group is working on various projects including malaria, cerebrospinal meningitis, diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, schistosomiasis and drug trials for severe malaria.

The Social Science Unit plays a very crucial collaborative role in all aspects of work in both groups

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