Participants during the Research Dissemination conference
Low Back Pain in Pregnancy; An opportunity to improving maternal health
The Africa Centre of Excellence in Public Health and Herbal Medicine (ACEPHEM) at the University Of Malawi College Of Medicine, on 3rd April, 2019 organized a Research dissemination presentation at the College of Medicine in Blantyre, Campus.
In 2017 and 2018, Researchers from the College of Medicine and Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital; Mr. Steve Manyozo, Dr. Phylos Bonongwe, Mr. Tarimo Nesto and Professor Adamson Muula, conducted a research tolook at how many among pregnant women suffer from Low Back Pain during their pregnancy term. The team further sought to look at factors that could be associated with the occurrence of low back among the women andthe management strategies used by the women to relieve pain and discomfort. This study was conducted inurban Blantyre.
The one-day research dissemination conference was officially opened by Professor Adamson Muula who is the Director for Africa Centre of Excellence in Public Health and Herbal Medicine (ACEPHEM).
The study findings were presented by Mr. Steven Manyozo who is pursuing Master of Epidemiology at College of Medicine with support from ACEPHEM.
“The study was conducted bearing in mind that there’s generally paucity of data on Low Back Pain in Malawi such that some important questions regarding Low Back Pain remain unanswered for example prevalence of Low Back Pain and its characterization in pregnancy and clinical course.”Said Mr. Steven Manyozo
The study revealed that 62% of the pregnant women included in the survey indicated experiencing low back pain during thecurrent pregnancy and 69% of the women who had low back pain were experiencing this kind of pain for the firsttime during their pregnancy.
The dissemination conference attracted students and researchers from within and outside College of Medicine. About 60 people patronized in this event.
Africa Centre of Excellence in Public Health and Herbal Medicine (ACEPHEM) is a government of Malawi project that is being financed by World Bank through a credit facility. The project aims at building education capacity through training at the MSc and PhD levels, develop the human capacity for Herbal medicine in practice, research, identification and industrialization and to engage sustainably with various stakeholders.