Thread by @michaelghead

Pleased to announce new #beatNTDs paper published, covering our 2019 study on #scabies and skin infections in #Ghana.
Published in Transactions @RSTMH, with equity in authorship - academic.oup.com/trstmh/advance…

#globalhealth (/1)

We trained healthcare staff on recognising scabies & other skin infections. Over 6-month period, study clinics recorded and reviewed 385 cases of skin infections. There were 45 diagnosed scabies cases (3rd most common skin infection, behind bacterial #dermatitis and #tinea) (/2)

We also assessed how far the patient travelled from home to clinic. There was a lot of ‘bypassing’ (i.e. they did not attend their nearest health centre, they travelled further than in theory they needed to) (/3)

@dgwinfred opened his geospatial box of tricks, and produced data like this image, showing the patient movements. Many typically headed into #Nkwanta main town (from their rural locality), where there are larger health facilities. (/4)

There was an anecdotal association (statistically insignificant) around people coming to Nkwanta on market day, and both doing their shopping/trading and also attending health clinics for minor conditions. Unproven here, but interesting hypothesis. (/5)

The bypassing was far more likely in rural Nkwanta (Oti region) than it was in peri-urban Kpone-Katamanso (Greater Accra). There are interesting aspects to further explore here around healthcare seeking behaviour for #scabies and skin infections. (/6)

Note the authorship list. We are under a group name. There is no first/senior author (only Dr Boateng as correspondence contact). All authors are considered equal. This includes health service workers who massively contributed (fieldwork, data collection, manuscript review) (/7)

The general lack of equity around global north/south authorship annoys me greatly. We firmly believe approaches like this can begin to build trust, foster relationships for the long-term good, rather than short-term desire for a better authorship position (/8)

I would encourage all global north academic colleagues to consider such approaches with LMIC-focused manuscripts.

Manners matter.

And these efforts are (I think) appreciated. For an example of superb insight in this area, see gh.bmj.com/content/4/5/e0… by @seyeabimbola (/9)

Thank you for reading this far! There are hundreds of millions of cases of #scabies each year. It is a Neglected Tropical Disease. It doesn’t kill many, but it’s a massive #publichealth issue.
And do try not to scratch too much. (/end)

cc @MedVetAcarology @Dan_Engelman