2021eResearchReport - Flipbook - Page 16
Open data opens
possibilities
“You see what’s happening
around you and you think,
well, something has to be
done. It’s like how many of
us volunteered during the
pandemic because we just
couldn’t stand to not do
anything. So you try to find
out how to help, and I think
this research started like
that. We discussed COVID-19
outcomes over time and then
suddenly you find you’re
talking less and writing more
about it.”
~ Dr Oluchi Mbamalu
Research pharmacist at UCT’s
Division of Infectious Disease
and HIV Medicine.
16
eResearch Report | 2019-2020
Dr Oluchi Mbamalu and colleagues
were able to use publicly available
data to conduct comparative research
around adverse COVID-19 outcomes
in three different countries. For this
and other research, she was supported
by UCT Libraries’ Accessibility and
Discovery Service, part of the eResearch
partnership.
“If the data wasn’t open, our recent
publication on COVID-19 would not have
been possible,” says Dr Oluchi Mbamalu
of UCT’s Division of Infectious Disease
& HIV Medicine, about her recent
multidisciplinary and collaborative work
on the impact of health disparities on
COVID-19 outcomes in South Africa, Brazil
and the United States of America (USA).
Mbamalu and three researchers from
the University of the Western Cape
collaborated to use openly-accessible
data to draw comparisons between prepandemic health disparities and adverse
COVID-19 outcomes among certain
individuals and communities in South
Africa, Brazil and the USA.
“You see what’s happening around you
and you think, well, something has to be
done. It’s like how many of us volunteered
during the pandemic because we just
couldn’t stand to not do anything. So
you try to find out how to help, and I
think this research started like that. We
discussed COVID-19 outcomes over time
and then suddenly you find you’re talking
less and writing more about it.”
Their findings didn’t surprise them. The
reported data from the study countries
indicated that individuals of African
descent and some minority populations
are more likely to suffer adverse COVID-19
outcomes because of their exposure,
health and access to healthcare which
also reflects their occupational and
socioeconomic backgrounds.
Currently, Mbamalu is working as a
research pharmacist on the ASPIRES
(Antibiotic use across Surgical Pathways –
Investigating, Redesigning and Evaluating
Systems), with interest in patient/
stakeholder engagement for infection
care.
Accessing Open Data across continents
For this research, Mbamalu and her
co-authors obtained data from public
repositories such as the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
in the USA, the National Institute for
Communicable Diseases (NICD) here in
South Africa and the Brazilian Ministry of
Health websites.
Initially, the dynamic nature of COVID19-related data challenged their datacollection efforts:
“At first we didn’t realise that the data
we accessed would not be permanently
available because it gets updated daily.
So we made a decision to say on this day,
we’re going to get data from certain sites
so that we have the same data to compare
up until a specific date.”
Mbamalu and her colleagues also got
data on pre-pandemic health disparities
and the major causes of death across
the three countries from the Institute for
Health Metrics – data that is also publicly
available.
“The other data we got was from
research papers. Some of them only
had the abstracts available, and for
those, I then had to go through the UCT
Libraries portal to access the full text and
supporting documentation.”
UCT Libraries’ support
UCT’s Library Services have also
been a great help to Mbamalu with
other research projects. Working with
the ASPIRES team, she also recently
concluded a scoping review on surgical
patient engagement in infection care.
“We had great assistance from Gill
Morgan at the UCT Bongani Mayosi
Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) Library.
She helped with the development of
search strategies/terms we used for the
review.”
Morgan explains that they have five
Information Services librarians at the
FHS library. “We field extensive queries
where we help users from an information
services point of view, including assisting
with search strategies and search
profiles.”
“We also deal with shorter queries, like
in the case of Dr Mbamalu, to assist in
gaining access to print material or online
resources.”
Mbamalu reflected on the benefits of
Open Data and the limitations of data
behind paywalls:
“I think that it’s good when data is
open and people can have access to data
for various research purposes. Not having
access to such data would compromise
research interests because not everyone
will be able to access paid data.
Sometimes after paying to access the data
you find out it may not be what you’re
looking for. So, if you have had to pay
for it to find out that this is not what you
actually need, it’s a waste of resources,”
she says.
17
