The Southern African Regional Center Research Excellence on Non-Communicable Diseases, also known as “Peo” (which means “seed” in Tswana), is a multidisciplinary research consortium whose overall goal is to build the capacity and collaborations necessary to conduct high quality, policy-impacting regionally-relevant NCDs research. Research will focus is on breast cancer, trauma and hypertension; high burden and priority conditions affecting the region and for which there is a relative dearth of data related to risk factors, treatment, and outcomes. We hope that the capacity and collaborations built as a result of this project will lead to NCD-related research of direct public health relevance, and of benefit to low- and middle-income (LMIC) settings in southern Africa and elsewhere.
We hope that this website can be a resource for Peo collaborators, as well as researchers, students, national health program officers, and advocates in the region to keep abreast on Peo activities, to learn about related conferences and funding opportunities, and most of all to connect and explore future collaborations.
Specifically, we aim to:
- Data development :Improve availability and utilization of data, leveraging eHIS and program data
- Human capacity: Increase local human capacity skilled in NCD research through 12-month non-resident Fellowship
- Institutional capacity: Improve institutional capacity for collaborative research
- Research Impact: Increase research publications on high priority NCDs
- Policy Impact: Expand opportunities and forums to facilitate joint research agenda development and translation of research to policy
Peo is a partnership between 6 institutions spanning three countries, leveraging extensive research experience and emphasizing capacity building for institutions and personnel in LMICs. Partner institutions include:
