Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Canadian academic institutions are both working to improve health care in developing countries. However, the links between the two groups are often tenuous.
Almost two years ago, a group of some 20 University of Ottawa researchers began to look at ways of addressing this shortcoming with the goal of accomplishing more by pooling resources. These internal discussions led to a conference at the University this past summer, which brought together more than 80 researchers and health care providers to discuss the creation of an academic NGO research network. It was dubbed the ACANGO initiative.
Many of the participants were local, others came from various Canadian universities, and some came from as far away as Sri Lanka, Mexico and Kenya. More than 10 NGOs from Canada and abroad were represented.
“We got quite excited by the idea of linking the best of what we do here in the University with the best of what people do out there in the community,” said conference organizer Peter Tugwell, who also directs the Department of Medicine's Centre for Global Health.
Participants contributed six pilot projects to test the concept of combining NGO and academic expertise. Not surprisingly, the focal point of projects from low- and middle-income countries was improved care and management of HIV/AIDS in Kenya, Thailand and Malawi. The University has signed memoranda of understanding on collaborative projects with two of these partners (Thailand and Kenya).
Ottawa-based pilot projects focused on improving health care for the homeless (Ottawa Inner City Health Project), low-income families (Ottawa Equity Gauge) and recent immigrants (Global Ottawa AIDS Link).
Representatives from abroad were impressed by the Canadians' willingness to accept their view of what ought to be done in their countries. “It was a very careful balancing in terms of framing the discussions, so that they would identify the key ways in which groups such as the University of Ottawa could make a contribution without just getting in their way or being seen as exploiting them,” Tugwell said.
Dean of Medicine Peter Walker, who worked closely with Tugwell on the conference, sees a growing desire on the part of incoming students to take part in development projects – in Canada as well as elsewhere.
“Some of them are coming in with undergraduate degrees in development, some of them are coming in with graduate degrees, some of them have foreign experience, and some of them have been working in marginal communities,” Walker said.
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