Medical unit makes a global impact
MEDICAL research is most important in poor economic settings because it helps identify priorities where improved healthcare is most needed, and this is what the Effective Care Research Unit has been doing for the past 18 years.
The unit, housed at the Frere and Cecilia Makiwane Hospital departments of obstetrics gynaecology, was established in 2000 by Professor Justus Hofmeyr, a specialist in the field.
Hofmeyr had initially established the unit at the University of Witwatersrand.
Hofmeyr and Dr Mandisa Singata-Madliki, the co-director of the research unit, reflected on their 18-year journey in the province, and told the Saturday Dispatch that the research the unit had conducted had influenced the delivery of maternal healthcare services globally.
“We moved the unit to the Eastern Cape because we wanted to focus on clinical work and research that would be relevant to women in low-resource settings.
“We are always trying to find new and novel ways to improve the healthcare outcomes of pregnancy for women and their babies,” Hofmeyr said.
The unit specialises in research in hypertensive disorders in pregnancies, excessive bleeding after delivery, unintended pregnancies, and hormonal contraceptives and HIV.
“We’ve developed quite a few new ways of delivering and providing care, which have influenced the ways in which healthcare is provided across the world. One of our findings led to better ways of inducing labour in women who need to be induced for medical reasons.
“Another research study [conducted by the unit] revealed that a diet rich in calcium among pregnant women led to better outcomes for mothers and babies,” Hofmeyr said.
He explained that the unit had collaborated with the World Health Organisation (WHO) for many years.
“We’ve established very close working relations with WHO, and most of our major research projects have been done in collaboration with them. Our ongoing study [into HIV and contraceptives] is one that is anticipated with great excitement internationally,” Singata-Madliki said.
The unit is one of the few sites nationally conducting a study looking into the likelihood of HIV infection associated with different forms of contraceptive methods used by South African women. More than 600 participants involved in the study are from East London.
The duo said medical research was the first step to improving healthcare outcomes, especially in under-resourced areas like the Eastern Cape.
“When you work in an area that has vast shortages, you are able to have bigger impact. It is satisfying to work in an area where you feel you’re making a difference,” Hofmeyr said. —