WHO Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Children

The World Health Organization (WHO) produced the Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Children in 2005 - an evidence-based point of care management guidelines - as a resource to improve the quality of care for children at the first-referral level health facilities.  CICH has supported WHO in developing and revising this book, and is assisting in its implementation in China, Indonesia, Central Asia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Laos, Mexico and Fiji.

See the International Child Health Review Collaboration (ICHRC)

See the WHO Book Shop

International Child Health Review Collaboration (ICHRC)

CICH is involved in the ICHRC, a collaboration of WHO and global academic institutions that aim to review and document the evidence-base for the management of childhood illness in low-resource settings.  Currently, the website contains 64 reviews, more than 20 of which have been also published in peer-reviewed journals (International Child Health Review Collaboration).

Improving availability and use of oxygen

CICH is supporting countries to improve the detection and management of hypoxaemia in childhood illness, and to improve oxygen availability in district and rural hospitals.  A national oxygen program is currently ongoing in Papua New Guinea, and another is starting in Laos. 

Improved oxygen systems for childhood pneumonia: a multihospital effectiveness study in Papua New Guinea. Lancet 2008; 372 (9646): 1328-1333

Along with WHO, CICH is working on finalizing the 'Oxygen Manual': a guide to clinicians, program managers and technicians in how to support a local oxygen program, and improve oxygen availability and therapy. View the draft here.

Rheumatic heart disease and rheumatic fever

CICH is involved in projects to establish the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease using echocardiography in Fiji, assess the feasibility of echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease by nurses, and understand the pathogenesis of acute rheumatic fever.

WHO Regional Child Survival Strategy

In 2005 the World Health Organization and UNCIEF launched a Regional Child Survival Strategy. This outlines 7 important interventions (called the 'Essential Package') that have clearly been shown to reduce child mortality, and calls for a coordinated, integrated approach that would enable an environment wherein such interventions can be effective.

CICH has been involved in adaptation of the Child Survival Strategy in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. 

Read the Papua New Guinea Child Health Policy and Plan...

Group A streptococcus research

CICH is involved in research to define the global and local epidemiology of Group A streptococcus, the pathogenesis of rheumatic heart disease and to investigate a vaccine.

Scabies and impetigo

CICH is involved in assessing the safety and efficacy of a mass drug administration program to control scabies in a highly endemic population.

Childhood tuberculosis

CICH is supporting childhood TB activities in the Asia-Pacific region, including a focus on child contact management with projects in Indonesia and Cambodia.  Much of this work is in collaboration with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (www.theunion.org)

Rotavirus and global applications of its vaccine

CICH is currently engaged in 2 projects investigating the burden of Rotavirus, and aspects of the effectiveness of its vaccines in Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Fiji Pneumococcal Project

The Fiji Pneumococcal Project is a collaborative project between the University of Melbourne, the Fiji Ministry of Health, and the Fiji School of Medicine. It commenced in 2003 and was originally funded to undertake a phase 2 pneumococcal vaccine trial to measure the immunogenicity and impact on nasopharyngeal carriage of reduced dosing schedules of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine combined with a booster of the 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine. The aim was to expand the serotype coverage and improve affordability of the vaccine. Since then, the project has expanded its profile and now also gathers information countries need to make decisions regarding the impact of the new vaccines. 

The PneumoCarr Project

Information about carriage of multiple serotypes of pneumococcus is particularly important when considering the link between immunisation and carriage. A major barrier to this study is that there is no standard method to directly detect nasopharyngeal carriage of pneumococcal strains of different serotypes. The PneumoCarr Microbiology Project aims to provide an avenue for global consensus on suitable methods by determining the sensitivity and specificity of available methods for the detection of carriage of multiple serotypes of pneumococci. Read more..

Morbidity and mortality reporting

The Paediatric Hospital Reporting system is a computer-based program that records information in each child admission to hospital.  The program is then used to produce periodic admission summaries for each hospital, which can be compiled at a national level.

This program has been used in PNG and produced information for more than 11000 child admissions in 2010. Read the report...

Neonatal care

CICH is involved in a project in Fiji aimed at improving neonatal care. One aspect of this is tracking the medium term health and developmental outcomes of preterm and low-birth babies.

Urban poor

CICH is involved in a project to identify and the social determinants of health amongst the urban poor, to try and identify ways to intervene in improving access to health care.