Health study completed

TEN researchers from Papua New Guinea’s Divine Word University, Pacific Adventist University and the PNG National Department of Health are completing a data analysis and scientific publishing workshop in Cairns, Australia.
The month-long workshop ended on Friday and was hosted by James Cook University and funded by AusAID.
It is designed to help the researchers prepare and present their findings for publication.
The workshop has been run as part of a joint project on which the three universities collaborated in investigating male circumcision as a possible way to reduce HIV transmission in PNG.
“Working together on this important health issue, and sharing our findings with communities in Papua New Guinea, has been a highly successful collaboration,” JCU researcher Dr David MacLaren said.
“Our PNG colleagues have guided the investigation of contemporary and traditional circumcision practices in Papua New Guinea, and whether male circumcision would be an acceptable approach to reducing HIV transmission.
“As part of our contribution to the partnership, JCU is running this workshop for researchers who want to boost their success in a critical part of life as an academic: Getting your work published in scholarly journals.”
The researchers are investigating a number of topics, including the different types of circumcision, acceptability of infant and adult circumcision, religious views on male circumcision, and leaders’ attitudes towards male circumcision.
The workshop has included sessions with JCU and visiting academics on subjects including: analysing quantitative and qualitative data; choosing the right journal for your publication; and scientific writing for publication.
“Working with statistics is one of the areas the workshop participants wanted to focus on,” Divine Word University’s Dr Clement Manineng said.
“The HIV and male circumcision study has involved interviews with more than 860 men and 510 women, and has produced a lot of data for analysis.
“Our aim as researchers is to have manuscripts published in this important area,” Rachael Tommbe, from Pacific Adventist University, said.
Papua New Guinea has more than 90% of all the cases of HIV in Oceania.