UBC researchers have received a $5.3 million contribution
over six years from the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA) to support three international development projects
by UBC and its partner institutions in Uganda, South Africa
and Ecuador.
Funded by CIDA’s University Partnerships in Cooperation
and Development (UPCD) Program, the projects draw upon Canadian
university expertise to help build the capacity of education
and training institutions in developing countries to address
their sustainable development priorities.
Jerry Spiegel, director of Global Health at the Liu Institute
for Global Issues at UBC, leads a team connecting 10 UBC centers
to partner with the Universities of Guayaquil, Machala and
Bolivar to develop problem-based and community learning opportunities
in environmental health, including diploma, certificate and
masters programs and faculty development initiatives, in Ecuador.
The project also involves institutes in Cuba and Mexico and
will reinforce their ability to provide leadership within
the Latin American region.
The Tier 1 project will address such basic human needs as
shelter and response to emergencies, will promote environmentally
sound infrastructure by upgrading the skills to evaluate environmental
health impact, and will help developing countries address
global and regional environmental issues, with a particular
focus on nutrition, water, sanitation and infectious diseases.
“The result will be fewer preventable deaths and less
environmental-health-related illness in the country, and ultimately
improvements throughout the region,” says Spiegel.
“The project will serve as an exemplary model of how
North-South partnerships can stimulate and reinforce South-South
cooperation, as well as how universities can achieve community
impact.”
Dr. Shafique Pirani, a clinical associate professor of orthopaedics
at the UBC Faculty of Medicine and pediatric orthopaedic surgeon
at Royal Columbia Hospital, will lead a project to treat clubfoot
in Uganda. Partners include UBC’s Departments of Orthopaedics,
and Health Care and Epidemiology, Makerere University, the
Government and Ministry of Health in Uganda, its Children’s
Orthopaedic Rehabilitation Unit, and Enable Canada.
Clubfoot is a congenital deformity that affects approximately
one in 1,000 live births per year worldwide. Neglected clubfoot
can have a dramatic effect on quality of life, especially
in developing countries in which economic survival and community
role may be highly dependent on physical ability.
Pirani’s Tier 2 project will increase the capacity
for medical schools and paramedical training programs to detect
the deformity at an early stage and treat patients close to
where they live. Treatment will involve the Ponseti Method,
a safe, effective and sustainable technique that uses accurate
manipulation and casting rather than surgery with proven excellent
long-term results. The project will also measure outcomes
for this medical intervention in the context of Ugandan culture.
“This method eliminates the risk and cost of surgery,
and may be the only feasible treatment in developing countries,”
says Pirani. “If we can make it work in one country,
maybe we can make it work elsewhere.”
In another Tier 2 initiative, Philip Evans, director of the
Centre for Advanced Wood Processing in the UBC Faculty of
Forestry, will lead a team to develop the capacity of Port
Elizabeth Technikon and University of Stellenbosch to deliver
new degree programs on value-added wood processing in South
Africa.
This will involve a range of activities including exchange
of faculty and the development of innovative distance education
courses on value-added wood processing.
“Strengthening the capacity of educational institutions
is a powerful development tool and graduates from the new
programs will become more effective managers for an industry
that is based entirely on plantation timber,” says Evans.
“In the long term this will help to create jobs and
alleviate poverty in rural regions where many of the value-added
wood processing plants are located.”
CIDA’s UPCD Program annually supports projects at universities
throughout Canada. CIDA may contribute up to $3 million for
a maximum of six years for Tier 1 projects (major development
and institution building projects) and up to $1 million for
a maximum of six years for Tier 2 projects.
Each project is selected based on the needs of the targeted
developing country or countries, and its coherence with Canadian
international development priorities.
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