INTERPRACTICE-21st Investigators’ Meeting
25th-26th April 2017
Green Templeton College, Oxford
The International Preterm Postnatal Growth Standards Consortium met in Oxford on the 25th and 26th April 2017 to discuss the INTERPRACTICE-21st pilot project in a two day investigators’ meeting at the Green Templeton College, Oxford. The meeting discussed in detail the aims of the project which include promoting the use of the INTERGROWTH-21st protocols to standardize preterm postnatal growth monitoring and feeding practices using breastmilk. The proper uses of these tools are aimed at improving the growth, development and survival rate of preterm infants. Ultimately, the INTERPRACTICE-21st seeks to gain high level policy support for global acceptance and use of the standards for monitoring preterm babies and infants up to the age of five.
The first phase of the Project as INTERGROWTH-21st, was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The current phase is being financed through the grant from the Family Larsson Rosenquist Foundation for the next 3 years.
The participating countries for the INTERPRACTICE-21st pilot project include Brazil, Ghana, India, Kenya, Italy, Pakistan, Russia, USA and the UK. The selected hospitals are considered as centres of excellence for preterm and neonatal care.
Senior Coordinators from the participating sites include:
- Albertina Rego, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Porto Alegre, Brazil;
- Jacqueline Asibey and Josephine Agyeman-Duah, Holy Family Hospital –Techiman, Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana/GFMER, Switzerland;
- Suman Rao, St. John's Medical College Hospital, Bangalore, India;
- Deepak Chawla, Govt. Medical College, Chandigarh, India;
- Paola Roggero/Maria Lorella Gianni University of Milan Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy;
- Francesca Giuliani Ospedale Infantile Regina Margherita Sant’ Anna and Azienda Ospedaliera Ordine Mauriziano, Turin, Italy;
- Roseline Ochieng, Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya;
- Alejandra Coronado Zarco, Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia, Mexico City, Mexico;
- Syed Rehan Ali, The Aga Khan Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan;
- Irina Ryumina, Moscow, Russia;
- Kenny McCormick, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK; and
- Jagjit Singh Teji, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, Chicago, USA.
Representatives of partner organizations present include:
- Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research: for the dissemination of the e-learning module
- Dr Karim Abawi, Project Manager
- Josephine Agyeman-Duah, Technical Officer
- The Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation: the project financiers
- Janet Prince, Project Manager
The Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute were represented at the meeting by:
- Prof Jose Villar
- Prof Stephen Kennedy
- Dr Ann Lambert
- Dr - Leila Cheikh Ismail
- Dr Eleonora Staines Urias
- Dr Jane Hirst
- Dr Carl Britto
The meeting ended with an action plan and useful feedback to finalize the draft project protocol. There will be a three month preliminary pilote phase before INTERPRACTICE-21st project implementation commences tentatively in November 2017.
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