Research Utilization

The Zamboanga Consortium for Health Research and Development recently concluded its 3-day Strategic Planning Workshop on 10-12 April 2013 held at the Grand Astoria hotel, Zamboanga City. It was held to review the existing Vision, Mission, and Goals and their 5-Year Strategic Plan.

Several agencies attended the 3-day workshop, which included the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, Western Mindanao State University, Brent Hospital and Colleges, Universidad de Zamboanga, Katilingban para sa Kalambuan, Inc., City Health Office of Zamboanga, Department of Health, and the Department of Science and Technology IX among others. Day 1 started with the usual opening ceremonies led by no less than the consortium chair, Dr. Teresita Montaño.

Ms. Ellen San Juan facilitated the session with a lecture of the basics of strategic planning, in the afternoon, the involved agencies were asked by the facilitator Ms. Ellen San Juan to write their expectations from ZCHRD were and what were the things they could offer ZCHRD in Return. It was followed by a presentation of the consortium’s accomplishment from 2011-the 1^st quarter of 2013. The first day ended with Ms. San Juan facilitating a visioning and goal setting for the consortium.

Day 2 and 3 focused on the SWOT analysis and retuning of the Vision, Mission, and Goals of the consortium. The workshop ended with the four committees of the consortium developing their respective committee strategic plans.

As a result, the new vision of the consortium is to be “A progressive, dynamic and responsible health research community committed toward the attainment of local, national, and global health goals” with “Develop an enabling and sustainable research environment among member institutions and other stakeholders for the promotion of evidence based health policies, programs and practices” as its new mission. The Goals of the consortium for the next 5-years will be to 1) Increase the number of generated research proposals endorsed for funding; 2) Facilitate research outputs for product development; 3) All member institutions will have accredited ERCs within 5 years; 4) Institutions in the provinces will be represented in ZCHRD in 5 years. It also plans to 5)Strengthen the commitment of the institutional heads; 6) Capacitate researchers through appropriate intervention (mentoring, training); 7) Establish a mechanism for recognition system for researchers; 8) To endorse research articles to peer reviewed and/or accredited journals; 9) To facilitate translation of research output into policies; 10) To disseminate research output (conferences, forums, etc.). 11) To expand the sources of funding; and 12) To facilitate the sharing of resources (human and infrastructure) among member institutions and other consortia.

31 JANUARY 2013 | GENEVA - Adults should consume less than 2,000 mg of sodium, or 5 grams of salt, and at least 3,510 mg of potassium per day, according to new guidelines issued by the WHO. A person with either elevated sodium levels and low potassium levels could be at risk of raised blood pressure which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Sodium is found naturally in a variety of foods, including milk and cream (approximately 50 mg of sodium per 100 g) and eggs (approximately 80 mg/100 g). It is also found, in much higher amounts, in processed foods, such as bread (approximately 250 mg/100 g), processed meats like bacon (approximately 1,500 mg/100 g), snack foods such as pretzels, cheese puffs and popcorn (approximately 1,500 mg/100 g), as well as in condiments such as soy sauce (approximately 7,000 mg/100 g), and bouillon or stock cubes (approximately 20,000 mg/100 g).

Potassium-rich foods include: beans and peas (approximately 1,300 mg of potassium per 100 g), nuts (approximately 600 mg/100 g), vegetables such as spinach, cabbage and parsley (approximately 550 mg/100 g) and fruits such as bananas, papayas and dates (approximately 300 mg/100 g). Processing reduces the amount of potassium in many food products.

Currently, most people consume too much sodium and not enough potassium.

“Elevated blood pressure is a major risk for heart disease and stroke – the number one cause of death and disability globally,” says Dr Francesco Branca, Director of WHO’s Department of Nutrition for Health and Development. “These guidelines also make recommendations for children over the age of 2. This is critical because children with elevated blood pressure often become adults with elevated blood pressure.”

The guidelines are an important tool for public health experts and policymakers as they work in their specific country situations to address noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. Public health measures to reduce sodium and increase potassium consumption and thereby decrease the population’s risk of high blood pressure and heart disease can include food and product labelling, consumer education, updating national dietary guidelines, and negotiating with food manufacturers to reduce the amount of salt in processed foods.

WHO is also updating guidelines on the intake of fats and sugars associated to reduced risk of obesity and noncommunicable diseases.

For more information please contact:

Gregory Härtl

Coordinator, News, Social Media and Monitoring

Telephone: +41 79 203 6715

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Originally from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2013/salt_potassium_20130131/en/index.html

The Human Resource Development Committee (HRD) of the Health Consortium in Western Mindanao recently concluded its 3-day Health Research Proposal Writeshop. The first of its kind in the region, it is geared to facilitate researchers with developing technically and ethically sound and fundable research proposals.

The 1st day begun with a series of plenary sessions to give the beginning researchers an idea of what the consortium is all about as well as the health concerns of the region which, was discussed by Dr. Ma. Agnes Z. Mabolo, RICU Chair and Medical Specialist of DOH-CHD 9, focused on the familiarization to ZCHRD, the NUHRA and RUHRA, and the health status of Region 9. Dr. Servando D. Halili, Jr., HRD Chair, continued the plenary sessions with a Lecture on Crafting the Research Problem.

In the afternoon, the qualified proposals were assigned their respective mentors to guide them through the 3-day activity following a format prescribed by ZCHRD as follows:

Aside from the qualified proposals, walk-in participants were also grouped according to their institutional affiliation and were taught on how to write capsule proposals, which was facilitated by Mr. Bienvenido L. Gregorio, PhD as follows:

Day 2 commenced with R&D Chair Dr. Chona Q. Sarmiento's lecture on the Quantitative aspect of the Health Research Methodologies followed by Dr. Servando Halili for the Qualitative aspect. The participants were asked to improve their proposals based on the lectures given. Ms. Wilma I. Santos of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) announced that the Call for Nominations to the Gruppo Medica and the Outstanding Health Researcher Award is now accepting nominations.

On the 3rd day, the participants were asked to present their work to a panel of critiques. The workshop ended with the critiques giving the participants two (2) weeks to revise their proposals still with the help of their respective mentors and re-submit to ZCHRD for the R&D Evaluation.

The Zamboanga Consortium for Health Research (ZCHRD) is now accepting entries for the “1st Health Research Writeshop” exclusive for Region IX Researchers.

The writeshop will be from February 27-March 01, 2013. For this maiden workshop, 24 entries will be selected for presentation and comments. Promising research proposals will be recommended for prospective funding.

Interested applicants are required to submit a concept paper on health research of not more than five pages. The concept paper shall include abrief introduction, a problem statement, and objectives, statement of significance, methodology, and a preliminary review of literature.

Deadline for submission is on February 09, 2013. Qualified applicants will be notified immediately after. Please submit your entries under a pseudonym together with 2 letters of recommendation, a 2x2 picture, a short resume and your real name in a sealed envelope to:

MR. RICARDO J. APOLINARIO III
Zamboanga Consortium for Health Research and Development
Department of Science and Technology IX Compound
Capt. F. Marcos St. cor. Gen Alvarez St. Pettit Barracks, Zamboanga City

For queries: 991-1024 / fax: 992-1114 / 0927-831-8824 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.