AFENET - news

TFELTP’s Field Coordinator, Dr. Janneth Mghamba and Dr. Donald Tarimo, a lecturer at Muhimbili University of Allied Sciences, have travelled to Dodoma region to supervise Dr. Faraja Lyamuya (cohort one resident) as he carries out his data collection and field work.

TFELTP residents, one staff, and one faculty member from Muhimbili University travelled to Manyara,Mbulu District on 26 January 2010, to investigate a suspected plague outbreak.

Dr. Fausta Mosha TFELTP’s Laboratory Resident Advisor has travelled to Moshi to supervise Mr. Yona Kasebele (cohort one Lab resident) as he carries out his data collection.

Updates from Ghana

Cohort III residents are currently carrying out their eight week-long field assignments to evaluate surveillance systems for Trypanosomiasis, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Rabies, and Bovine brucellosis at District and National level.

Four residents of the second cohort have submitted abstracts for the upcoming Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference due in Atlanta, USA from 19-23 April 2010.

Dr. Nelson Adekoya, an Epidemiologist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, is visiting the Ghana program from 25 January - 5 February 2010 to conduct classes for the cohort-III residents on a review of epidemiology for public health surveillance and field investigation

Dr. Reuben Tettey and Ms. Gifty Boateng, both residents of the second cohort, presented their research proposals for the first time during a seminar at the School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon on 28 January 2010.

Ms. Dennise Traicoff and Ms. Petra Vallila Buchman from CDC in Atlanta will be in Ghana to conduct an evaluation of the first short course on Improving Management for Public Health Interventions (IMPHI) which was held in Ghana in June –July 2009.The evaluation of the course which is supported by CDC through its Sustainable Management Development Program will be conducted for two weeks starting 25 January 2010.

Residents of the third cohort completed the first semester of the long course, and have since embarked on their field assignments. The assignments will be carried out for eight weeks and will focus on acquisition of competencies in the public health surveillance system.

The Ghana FELTP is making remarkable progress towards establishing a website for the program with assistance from Dr. Pascale Krumm, a Health Communication Specialist at CDC in Atlanta. The completion of the website is planned for May 2010 during a Scientific Communication course to be co-facilitated by Dr. Krumm.

Dr. Nathaniel Yebuah, Veterinary Field Coordinator of the GFELTP, participated in a Curriculum Development Course for High Pandemic Influenza from 23 November to 4 December 2009 in Boston, USA. The course was supported by United States Agency for Development (USAID).

A special veterinary elective course on Highly Pandemic Influenza is planned for March 2010. During this course, the modules for the veterinary course which were developed recently will be evaluated.

The Interim Chief of Party for CDC’s Global AIDS Program (GAP) in Ghana, Dr Okey Nwanyanwu met the GFELTP team on 15 January 2010 as part of his familiarization visit with CDC projects and partners. The substantive Chief of Party for Ghana, Dr. Fazle Khan will resume duty in April 2010.

Nigeria

Thirteen residents of the second cohort attended a workshop of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) from 25-28 January 2010 in Abuja, Nigeria. The workshop was organised by the British Medical Journal West Africa under the theme "Promoting Quality and Safety in Health through Writing".

Residents of the first cohort started their cluster three training on 25 January 2010 for the next four weeks. The residents completed their cluster two exams last week.

The NFELTP has submitted nine abstracts for the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference to be held from 19-23 April 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. As the deadline for submission of abstracts was extended, the program intends to submit five more abstracts.

The program recently completed a study on mortality which was conducted in collaboration with all the major private and public hospitals in Abuja. A total of 5 residents and 2 faculty members were involved since June 2009. Dr. Nyki Preaceley Epidemiology Intelligence Service Officer provided technical assistance to the program. Data collected from the study is being analysed and the findings will be published soon.

Residents of the NFELTP were part of an exercise to screen pilgrims for H1N1 on their return from the Hajji pilgrimage in Mecca. The screening exercise was conducted from 5 – 26 December 2009 at six international airports in Nigeria. No H1N1 case was detected.

West Africa FELTP

The West Africa FELTP held a workshop for facilitators of the program’s Master Course on 12 and 13 January 2010 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The workshop was a precursor to the official launch of the two year Master Course in Field Epidemiology and Laboratory, was attended by facilitators from Mali, Niger, Togo and Burkina Faso, as well as Dr. Olivia Namusisi from AFENET and Dr. Ally Mohamed from Tanzania FELTP. The issues discussed included:

(L-R) Prof. Mireille Prince David, President of Scientific Committee, Prof Mamadou Sawadogo,Director of the Master FELTP and Prof. Evariste Mutabaruka,Program Director-WAFELTPduring the Facilitators’ Orientation workshop

- Goals and objectives of the FELTP
- Course curriculum and schedule
- Resultant competencies of trainees after the course
- FELTP training methodology, training materials and tools
- Potential field activities for residents
- The role of mentors and field supervisors
- Assessment and evaluation of residents
- Course administration and management

The two year Master Course of the West Africa Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (WA-FELTP) was officially launched on 14 January 2010 by the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Hon. Tertius Zongo. Also present at the launch were Mr. Seydou Bouda-Minister for Health, Mr. Mamadou Pare-Minister for Animal Resources, Mr. Joseph Pare-Minister for Higher Education, Dr. Djamila Cabral-WHO Representative in Burkina Faso, and Dr. Olivia Namusisi-AFENET’s Head of Technical Programs.

The Master of Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training course will be hosted by the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. The university vowed to conduct a high quality program in collaboration with the facilitators and other partner institutions.

All speeches made at the launch highlighted the relevance of the partnership between global public health organisations like CDC, WHO, AFENET, and the governments of the four West African countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Togo) involved in the program.

(L-R) Pr. Joseph Pare, Minister of High Education, Burkina Faso’s Prime Minister Hon. Tertius Zongo, Mr. Seydou Bouda, Minister of Health, Dr. Djamila Cabral, WHO Representative in Burkina Faso, and Dr. Olivia Namusisi from AFENET

The West Africa FELTP organised a meeting of residents and National Focal Points (NFPs) of the countries in the program (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Togo) on 15 January 2010. The aim of the meeting was to present the course and planning schedules for the first semester of the two year Master program which was launched on 14 January 2010. The NFPs were asked to finalize their selection of field sites for the residents’ training before the end of January 2010. The WA-FELTP Program Director, together with an official from CDC and one from AFENET, will visit the four countries to assess the field sites.

Classes for the Master course began on 18 January 2010 with a module introducing the WA-FELTP by Prof. Evariste Mutabaruka. The Epi track coordinator, Prof. Laurent Ouedraogo then conducted a lecture on Introduction to Epidemiology. Dr. Ally Mohamed from the Tanzania FELTP made a presentation about Introduction to Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, on 19 January 2010.

Thus far, the course is running smoothly as all residents have received their reading materials and computers.

Residents of the West Africa FELTP with Dr. Namusisi (AFENET) and Dr. Mohamed (Tanzania FELTP)

South Sudan

The South Sudan program will today (29 January 2010) complete a ten-day training exercise onManagement of Outbreaks for Middle Level Health Workers in the country. The training which was sponsored by AFENET attracted 34 participants who included laboratory technicians, public health officers, medical assistants, medical students, clinicians, statisticians, and a pharmacist. It was facilitated by public health professionals from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan.

Participants of the training on Management of Outbreaks for Middle Level Health Workers in South Sudan

Rwanda

Participants from four major hospital laboratories, (King Faisal, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Butare, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali and Kanombe Military hospital), the National Reference Laboratory and Kigali Health Institute attended Rwanda’s first training in Strengthening Laboratory Management Towards Accreditation (SLMTA). The training was conducted from the 25-28 January 2010. The workshop was attended by 25 participants who will also attend two subsequent workshops planned later this year. Anna Murphy (ASCP), Mary Kathyrn (ASCP), and Ndlovu Nqobile (AFENET) facilitated the training. Prior to the four day training, the participating laboratories were assessed using the WHO – AFRO Laboratory Accreditation Assessment checklist to establish their baseline assessment. The facilitators discussed with participants the gaps identified during the assessment so that they develop improvement projects.

Updates from Secretariat

AFENET, through its laboratory project AFENET-L, is carrying out a Laboratory Management Training workshop for District Laboratory Focal Persons in Mbale District, Eastern Uganda. This comes after Uganda’s health ministry identified the low level of managerial skills of the laboratory focal persons. The training began on 25 January 2010 and has attracted participants from 25 districts in the Eastern region. AFENET is sponsoring the training and plans to roll out the exercise in all regions of Uganda i.e. Central, Northern, Southern. This will help to improve the performance and supervision of the district laboratory managers for better service delivery. The training which ends on 29 January is facilitated by officials from the Ministry of Health, Uganda Medical Laboratory Technicians Association, Uganda Association of Biomedical Scientists (UABMS), and Biomedical Laboratory Network (BLN). UABMS and BLN signed Memoranda of Understanding with AFENET in 2009 to help promote laboratory training in Uganda. Participants are expected to enhance their skills in laboratory logistics, inventory, safety, and management.

AFENET partnered with CDC to conduct training workshops on reconstruction of the Dry Tube Sample (DTS) for quality assurance during HIV tests for 188 HIV testing sites in Uganda. The training workshops held on 14 and 15 January 2010, also focused on testing and use of the standardized HIV logbook among participants from selected HIV sites in all regions of Uganda. Mr. Ndlovu Nqobile (AFENET), Dr. Mireille Kalou and Keisha Jackson (CDC, Atlanta) were the key facilitators during the training.

Three teaching methods were employed at the training; power point lectures, demonstrations, and practical sessions. AFENET’s HIV Quality Assurance Project aims at strengthening quality in all HIV testing sites and ensuring accuracy and reliability of HIV test results through proficiency testing and routine monitoring of quality using the logbook.

At the end of the workshop, 188 HIV testing sites received their first DTS Proficiency Testing panels. DTS results are expected to be returned to the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) by the end of February. The HIV Quality Assurance Proficiency Testing project is being piloted in 200 HIV testing sites in Uganda.

The AFENET Board of Directors met at the Secretariat in Kampala from 19-23 January 2010 to discuss strategic plans for AFENET and its network members, as well as several policy issues. The Board which meets twice a year also had a retreat from 22-23. All Board members were present except Prof. Frederick Wurapa, the Program Director of the Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program.

The AFENET Board is constituted by: