The purpose of the Effective Health Care Research Programme Consortium (EHCRPC) is to increase the decisions relating to the health sector based on best

available evidence in middle-income and low-income countries. The focus of the EHRPC is on two main areas:

1. Producing reliable, up-to-date, scientifically defensible and relevant evidence in malaria and tuberculosis, child health, maternal health, and health systems.
2. Engaging in effective dialogue and influence between research, policy, and practice communities in the public and private sectors.

The Consortium activities include:

1. Preparing and updating Cochrane Reviews about the effects of health care relevant to low-income and middle-income countries.
2. Identifying approaches to ensure dissemination and use of the results of the results of systematic reviews in decision making.

The Programme is supported by funds from the Department for International Development UK and is directed by Professor Paul Garner at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, affiliated to the University of Liverpool.

Regions covered by this programme are: Africa, Asia, Eastern Africa, Eastern Asia, Eastern Europe, Europe, South-Eastern Asia, Southern Africa, Southern Asia, Western Africa

Countries covered by this consortium are: China, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Russian Federation, South Africa, Uga

EHCRPC meeting at Chonquing, China in 2007 hosted by Prof. Wang Yang (2nd from left) and his team at the School of Public Health, Chongqing University of Medical Sciences. Also pictured are: Prof. Paul Garner (5th from left), Helen Smith (3rd), Mary Ann Lansang (4th), and Prathap Tharyan (6th from left).

A full list of contacts of consortium partners:
Director: Professor Paul Garner (LSTM); Martin Meremikwu (University College of Medicinal Sciences, Calabar, Nigeria); Hasifa Bukirwa (Malaria Research Unit, Makerere University, Uganda); Ermin Erasmus, Jane Goudge, Moremi Nkosi (Centre for Health Policy, Univerity of Witwatersrand SA); Qian Xu (School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China); Wang Yang (Community health, Chongqing University, China); Das Gupta (Vector Research Institute, Pondicherry, India); Prathap Tharyan (Christian Medical College, Vellore, India); Mary Ann Lansang (College of Medicine, University of the Philippines, Manila); Lilia Ziganshina (Kazan State Medical University, Russia).
Documents related to this programme can be downloaded from here.

Evidence Update
Evidence Update is a two-page summary of a Cochrane Review of healthcare interventions relevant to people in low-income and middle income-countries. Each Evidence Update is prepared by a member of the EHCRPC in collaboration with the Australasian Cochrane Centre and is updated every time a review update is published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (part of The Cochrane Library). Consortium collaborators in China, Nigeria, and Russia are working to translate the Evidence Update.

A guide to reading and understanding Evidence Update can be downloaded from here

Evidence Update summaries currently available for download include:

Child health

• Do bathing, sponging, and fanning help manage fever in children? (PDF)
• In communities where intestinal worms are common, does giving children deworming drugs regularly improve their growth and school performance? (PDF)
• Is reduced osmolarity oral rehydration solution better than the standard solution for children with diarrhoea and dehydration? (PDF)
• Should vitamin A be given routinely to children with pneumonia unrelated to measles? (PDF)

Diarrhoea

• Are probiotics effective for treating infectious diarrhoea? (PDF)
• In areas where diarrhoeal disease is common, do interventions that aim to improve the quality of drinking water prevent diarrhoea? (PDF)

Filariasis

• Does albendazole improve the control and treatment of filariasis? (PDF)
• Does community distribution of diethylcarbamazine (DEC)-mediated salt reduce lymphatic filarisis infection in endemic areas? (PDF)

Health sector development

• Do community animal health services with paraveterinary workers improve the wealth and health of households in low-income farming communities? (PDF)
• Do lay health workers improve health care delivery and healthcare outcomes? (PDF)
• Do specialist outreach clinics improve health care? (PDF)
• Does teaching critical appraisal to health professionals improve practice or patient outcomes? (PDF)
• Is patient care improved by integrating different types of primary care service in low- and middle-income countries? (PDF)
• What is the best way to improve health worker prescribing of antibiotics?(PDF)

HIV/AIDS

• If women use the microbicide nonoxynol-9 during vaginal sex with men, does it protect them from HIV? (PDF)
• Should HIV-infected adults with chronic unsuppressed viraemia have a treatment break before starting a new HIV regimen? (PDF)
• Should people with HIV infection, pneumocystis pneumonia, and hypoxaemia receive corticosteroids? (PDF)

Malaria

• Do insecticide-treated bed nets reduce deaths in children? (PDF)
• Do steroids reduce death or disability in people with cerebral malaria? (PDF)
• Do vaccines targeting the blood-stage of the malaria parasite prevent malaria infection and illness? (PDF)
• Does the unit-dose packaging of antimalarial drugs reduce treatment failures in people with uncomplicated malaria? (PDF)
• Does primaquine prevent relapses in people with Plasmodium vivax malaria? (PDF)
• Does prophylaxis or intermittent treatment with antimalarial drugs benefit young children living in areas with malaria? (PDF)
• Do pre-erythrocytic vaccines prevent malaria illness and infection? (PDF)
• Is chlorproguanil-dapsone effective and safe for treating uncomplicated falciparum malaria? (PDF)
• Is intramuscular arteether (also known as artemotil) as effective as other antimalarial drugs in people with severe malaria? (PDF)
• Is intrarectal quinine as effective as intravenous quinine for people with malaria? (PDF)
• Should all people with cerebral malaria be given anticonvulsant drugs? (PDF)
• Should people with cerebral malaria receive mannitol or other osmotic diuretics in addition to standard antimalarial treatment? (PDF)
• Should people with severe malaria being treated with quinine receive a high first dose? (PDF)
• Should people with sickle cell disease living in malaria-endemic areas take malaria drug prophylaxis continuously? (PDF)
• Should pregnant women living in malarial areas use insecticide-treated nets? (PDF)
• Which drugs are effective for treating uncomplicated falciparum malaria during pregnancy? (PDF)

Maternal health

• Do pregnant women and their babies benefit from multiple micronutrient supplements? (PDF)
• How does vacuum extraction compare to forceps delivery? (PDF)
• How effective is magnesium sulphate compared to diazepam for women with eclampsia? (PDF)
• If a woman receives continuous one-to-one support during labour, does this benefit the mother and baby (PDF)
• In caesarean section, do antibiotics reduce complications caused by infections? (PDF)
• Should all pregnant women be given antimalarial drugs? (PDF)
• Should women deliver upright or on their side (compared with standard practice of lying on their backs or in stirrups)? (PDF)
• What are the benefits and risks of restrictive versus routine episiotomy during vaginal birth? (PDF)

Mental health

• Can inositol be used to treat depression? (PDF)
• Do psychological treatments delivered by paraprofessionals improve symptoms in people with anxiety or depressive disorders? (PDF)
• Does brief psychological debriefing help manage psychological distress after trauma and prevent post traumatic stress disorder? (PDF)
• Does folate treat depression? (PDF)
• Which drug should be used for treating mild to moderate chronic depression? (PDF)

Non-communicable diseases

• Do beta-blockers prevent heart disease and strokes in people with high blood pressure? (PDF)

Other infectious diseases

• Do cholera vaccines prevent cholera? (PDF)
• Do corticosteroids improve survival in people with dengue shock syndrome? (PDF)
• Is it better to use oral or intravenous rehydration in children with dehydration due to gastroenteritis? (PDF)
• Is reduced osmolarity oral rehydration solution (ORS) better than standard solution for treating diarrhoea due to cholera? (PDF)
• Should diazepam be given to people with tetanus? (PDF)
• What is the best way to treat trachoma trichiasis? (PDF)

Respiratory tract infections

• Are antibiotics effective for treating acute bronchitis? (PDF)

Sickle cell disease

• Do drugs that aim to reduce the dehydration of red blood cells prevent crises in people with sickle cell disease? (PDF)

Trauma

• Are tissue adhesives better than sutures for closing traumatic lacerations? (PDF)
• Does albumin reduce mortality in critically ill people? (PDF)
• How effective is tap water for wound cleansing? (PDF)

Tuberculosis

• Does watching patients take their TB drugs improve treatment cure and completion? (PDF)
• Should every patient with uncomplicated TB of the spine have surgery? (PDF)

Cochrane systematic reviews, protocols and titles from the South Asian Cochrane Network & Centre undertaken as part of the work of the EHCRPC include:
(From Cochrane Library Issue 4, 2008)

Adinarayanan S, Critchley J, Das PK, Gelband H. Diethylcarbamazine (DEC)-medicated salt for community-based control of lymphatic filariasis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD003758. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003758.pub2.

Christopher P, David KV, John SM, Sankarapandian V. Antibiotic therapy for Shigella dysentery. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD006784. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006784.

Galappaththy GNL, Omari AAA, Tharyan P. Primaquine for preventing relapses in people with Plasmodium vivax malaria. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD004389. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004389.pub2.

Prasad K, Singh MB. Corticosteroids for managing tuberculous meningitis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD002244. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD002244.pub3.

Prasad K, Garner P. Steroids for treating cerebral malaria. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 1999, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD000972. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD000972.

Thaver D, Zaidi AKM, Critchley JA, Azmatullah A, Madni SA, Bhutta ZA. Fluoroquinolones for treating typhoid and paratyphoid fever (enteric fever). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD004530. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD004530.pub3.

Unnikrishnan B, Nair S, Rajeev A. Pyronaridine for treating uncomplicated malaria. (Protocol) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD006404. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006404.

Adinarayanan, Srividya. Diethylcarbamazine regimens for controlling lymphatic filariasis (title) Bose, Anuradha. Fully intermittent therapy versus daily therapy for treating newly diagnosed cases of tuberculosis in children (title)

Sharma, Surendra. Isoniazid monotherapy versus other monotherapies or combination chemotherapy for preventing active tuberculosis in HIV-negative persons (title)

Wasay, Mohammad. Short term (6 months) versus long term (9-12 months) chemotherapy for tuberculous meningitis (title)