ARG receives re-designation as a Collaborating Center thru to September 2019.
Congratulations to Cheryl Cherpitel, DrPH, for her successful direction of the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center on Alcohol Epidemiology and Injury over the past four years. From her leadership, and the support of a highly skilled research team, ARG has been re-designated as a Collaborating Center through to September 2019.
Since 2011, Cherpitel and her colleagues have made significant contributions to research on alcohol-related injuries around the globe. Highlights of their work include multi-site studies involving 106 emergency rooms in 31 countries and assessments of over 46,700 patients. the development of fact sheets on alcohol and injuries, and the completion of a book that addresses the prevention of alcohol-related injuries, including evidence-based policy actions.
The purpose of the Center is to assist PAHO/WHO in the compilation, analysis and dissemination of data and research on alcohol and injuries. The Center is also tasked with providing specialized training and technical advice to local researchers so they can undertake emergency room (ER) studies in their own regions.
“We’re looking at expanding the work we’ve completed, which includes refining the risk of injury from drinking and the proportion of injury which can be attributed to alcohol consumption, as well as identifying those policies which best predict alcohol-related injury,” says Cherpitel. “If we can capture this type of data and determine how policies should be changed to help reduce alcohol-related harms, then we’ve taken a huge step towards decreasing serious injury and mortality rates around the world.”
Over the next four years, Cherpitel and her team will focus on adding new study sites, globally, to the growing list of countries involved in the project and assist in developing and piloting injury surveillance systems in ERs in the region of the Americas.
About PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centers
WHO Collaborating Centers are designated by the Director-General, WHO, as part of an inter-institutional collaborative network of centers worldwide. They are established to provide concrete activities at the national, regional, and global levels, in support of the strategic plans of specific WHO areas of work.
All WHO Collaborating Centers in the Region of the Americas are known as PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centers since the Pan American Health Organization also serves as a WHO regional office. Currently there are over 180 Centers in 15 countries in the Americas.
