Health researchers from across Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, England and Australia will gather at Atoifi Hospital this week to attend the Second Atoifi Health Research Symposium. With the theme of 'Towards Rural and Remote Health Excellence through Research', the Symposium will be held on Tuesday 15 August. Research presentations about detection and treatment of yaws and syphilis, malaria in pregnancy, infection control and patient satisfaction at Atoifi Hospital will be delivered. Reproductive health and community perceptions on skin disease will also be discussed.

Acting Chief Executive Office of Atoifi Hospital, Ms Rowena Asugeni will present about research capacity building for health research and Mr Humpress Harrington will present a session entitled, 'Developing local models to strengthen and improve capacity in health research in Melanesia'.

"This Symposium marks an exciting development for research in Solomon Islands", said Mr Humpress Harrington, who is undertaking his PhD at James Cook University (JCU) exploring appropriate research capacity strengthening models for Pacific contexts. "For Atoifi to be able to host a Symposium in a remote location and present so much locally generated data is a great step forward'.

The Symposium is also the launch of a week-long, DFAT-funded research capacity development workshop being conducted by JCU in partnership by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services in Solomon Islands. Designed to increase research capacity to address infectious diseases, the workshop is part of a larger program of research across the Pacific (2017-2018).

For more information about the Symposium, please contact rowenaasugeni[at]gmail.com or humpress.harrington[at]gmail.com

Photo (courtesy of Dr Michael Marks): Atoifi researchers administering treatment as a part of the Yaws research project. This project is being conducted on Malaita, Solomon Islands in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.