Research meetings and training in Islamabad

For two weeks, the population panel team met in Pakistan for intense sessions on preparing an upcoming telephonic data collection as well as refining and piloting further survey tools. Dr. Lisa Rogge and Alina Imping travelled on the 12^th of February and were joined in Islamabad by the Khyber Medical University (KMU) colleagues for most of the time. One main purpose of travel was to prepare the third wave of data collection of the population panel. The 3^rd wave comprises a telephonic survey entailing re-interviewing the panel households approximately a year after the last in-person interview. The main interest is to evaluate the current health needs, health care utilization and health care expenditure, especially Outpatient Department (OPD) care visits not forgetting neglected health care visits.

Read more: German team in Pakistan and preparation of wave 3 of the population panel

In the initial days of the trip, the team met with Dr. Zeeshan Kibria, Dr. Safat Ullah and the core team of research assistants at the KMU’s campus in Islamabad to discuss and prepare an upcoming research project and data collection. They refined a survey tool for uncertainties in health care seeking, conducted intense training and then, the enumerator team moved into the field for two days of piloting in Charsadda district.

Preparations and training for telephonic survey

In preparation for the telephonic survey, the team met further stakeholders like the consultant team that is responsible for designing the OPD insurance scheme and the KfW office in Islamabad and adapted the questionnaire accordingly. Once the survey was finalized, they moved to the KMU’s campus in Mansehra specifically for the full-day enumerator training on the procedures and contents of the telephonic survey. The eleven interviewers had already been part of the previous survey waves, had personally met and interviewed the households and were well familiar with the kind of questions asked. The campus opened recently, provides a great working environment and is well located in a calm and beautiful (mountainous) area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The training was followed by a day of piloting and a feedback session at the KMU campus in Peshawar. After a few final adjustments following the feedback of the piloting, the data collection began successfully on the 25^th of February and is planned to be completed before the beginning of Ramadan. The on-ground ongoing process is closely supervised by Dr. Zeeshan Kibria, ensuring quality via a daily monitoring routine that is in place.

International public health conference at KMU Peshawar

On the 22^nd and 23^rd of February, the FAU team visited Peshawar to attend the annual KMU public health conference. At the conference, they presented the overall project consortium on the social health protection initiative, as well as the results of some collaborative research outputs during a poster session: the discrete choice experiment (from the first wave of data collection) as well as an earlier project on COVID-19 prevention in high-risk groups.

Apart from the very productive work sessions, captivating encounters and fruitful scientific exchange during the conference, the team from FAU is very grateful for the exceptional hospitality of the KMU team. The FAU team is thankful for the warm welcome and continuous support!