- NIPN-Ethiopia Coordinator highlights importance of implementing acquired skills
ADDIS ABABA - June 14, 2024 (NIPN) - The National Information Platforms for Nutrition-Ethiopia (NIPN-Ethiopia) emphasizes the crucial role of researchers, nutrition experts, and health practitioners in translating the knowledge gained from their recent training into action. Organized jointly by NIPN, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the training on Data Management and Analysis using STATA concluded last Thursday.
Before handing over certificate to the researchers who completed a four-day training, the Coordinator of NIPN-Ethiopia, Dr. Aregash Samuel, highlighted the importance of implementing the acquired skills. “NIPN-Ethiopia stands ready to support sub-national health institutes and academia in enhancing their capacity and equipping themselves with proficient researchers and practitioners”. She underscored the significance of efficient data processing and analysis, emphasizing NIPN's commitment to empowering health practitioners with advanced tools like STATA.
Representing IFPRI, a Research Fellow, Dr. Taddesse Zerfu, urged participants to diligently apply their acquired knowledge, emphasizing the necessity of addressing research challenges in the health sector. “It is essential to apply what you have learned here for a productive outcome,” he stressed.
Trainees expressed gratitude for the training opportunity, acknowledging their limited experience with STATA compared to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). They emphasized the value of receiving training on STATA, noting that since the majority of them are accustomed to using SPSS, the opportunity to learn STATA was particularly beneficial.
One of the young instructors who attended the training from Ambo University is named Rebecca Temam. She highlighted the importance of the training in expanding her analytical capability, noting the potential benefits for her research endeavors. Rebecca mentioned that she is familiar with using SPSS software for data analysis. “We typically rely on SPSS for our research analysis. It's our go-to software for data processing. STATA, on the other hand, is more advanced, and we lack experience in using it,” she said.
Rebecca expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to receive training on STATA, acknowledging its significance for her research endeavors. “Having learned how to utilize STATA software, I feel fortunate. This experience presents a valuable opportunity, one that I intend to leverage in my future research endeavors,” she remarked.
Despite the condensed timeframe, trainees recognized the value of the comprehensive training provided by experienced instructors. Rebecca commented that it would have been much better if they had more time so that they could familiarize themselves with the software. “The trainers have given the training starting from the introduction part. They are well experienced. But the subject is so vast that it cannot be covered within four days,” she commented.
An instructor from Debre-Tabor University, Melkamu Aderajew, emphasized the significance of applying advanced software like STATA to address challenges in analyzing nutrition-related data effectively. “We all have problems in finding nutrition-related data and analyzing them. The training given by NIPN and its partners is very useful and timely,” he said.
Melkamu said that there is a problem with the health record and data analysis system. “We are way back using advanced system in processing our research. STATA is a powerful software. Applying this software in our data processing is much preferable. That makes the training very useful,” he said.
NIPN-Ethiopia's initiative to extend the training to researchers from the Central Ethiopia Region Public Health Institute was welcomed by Dr. Sinafikish Ayele, who heads the Health Research and Technology Transfer Directorate. She acknowledged the benefits of transitioning from SPSS to STATA for data analysis and expressed appreciation for the clarity and depth of the training provided.
She said that as she uses SPSS while analyzing data, it was a good opportunity for her to get trained on STATA. “Earlier I started having training on STATA. Unfortunately, I could not keep up with that. The training given here is very good. The way the trainers were teaching made things very interesting. I feel I should practice it well. I appreciate the trainers who made things more understandable. It is good if we are provided with similar training on STATA in the future,” she said.
The four-day training, conducted at the premises of EPHI and attended by 21 senior researchers and nutrition experts drawn from various institutions, aimed to enhance their proficiency in data management and analysis using STATA. This initiative reflects NIPN's commitment to fostering expertise and its collaboration in addressing nutrition and health challenges in Ethiopia. (NIPN).
