AFENET in joint Sierra Leone collaboration to promote scientific writing
The African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) through the Sierra Leone Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP), in collaboration with the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS), the United State Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) and the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) organized scientific manuscript writing workshop from 1 August through 5 August 2022. Organized in Makeni Sierra Leone, the workshop was held under the theme “Strengthening health system through scientific communication and publishing.” The aim of the workshop was to build the capacity of FETP graduates and residents, as well as CHAMPS staff, in scientific writing and publishing. The workshop established a collaboration between the Sierra Leone FETP and CHAMPS to enable FETP residents and graduates to use CHAMPS data in their field projects. CHAMPS Director Dr. Ikechukwu (Ike) Ogbuanu said the organization has been collecting data on the stillbirths and Under-5 deaths in Sierra Leone since 2019. “It is necessary to start generating manuscripts for the work that we do so that others can also gain from the data and knowledge we are generating. As CHAMPS, we would like to equip our staff with the necessary knowledge on writing and this is when collaboration with AFENET / CDC came in handy,” said Dr Ikechukwu. “We are grateful for the contribution by the AFENET/ CDC team to making the workshop success. We sincerely hope that the collaboration initiated will continue for the betterment of our respective organizations.” AFENET Resident Advisor, Dr. Gebrekrstos Negash Gebru: “This collaboration in scientific writing with CHAMPS, US CDC, MOHS and University of Sierra Leone will not only provide our trainees and graduates the opportunity to learn, write and publish their field projects, but it will also provide them with the opportunity to access primary, laboratory-based data from CHAMPS which has been collected since CHAMPS started operation in the country in 2019.” Dr Gebru further said that the success of the new collaboration wasn’t about completing the scientific workshop, but success would be measured by the number of articles published as the result of this workshop. Relatedly, Dr. Mohamed A. Vandi, the MOHS’ Director of the Directorate of Health Security and Emergencies indicated that “one of the core competencies of the FETP is the scientific writing and communication, and residents are required to write manuscript and abstract during their residency. He also mentioned that MOHS has huge data that can be used by FETP residents and graduates to write manuscripts.” A total of 26 participants from the FETP (13) and CHAMPS (13) participated in the Makeni workshop. Participants were trained on how to write scientific manuscript and how to publish in peer-reviewed journals. The workshop included didactic, practical and interactive sessions. Participants had a chance to practice writing skills to develop manuscripts from their own projects. The workshop was facilitated by key speakers from US CDC Atlanta, US CDC Sierra Leone country office, MOHS, AFENET, CHAMPS, and the University of Sierra Leone. Participants will work with their mentors to complete the manuscripts drafted during the workshop to obtain a publishable version.{:}{:en}Residents and graduates of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) are involved in 4 outbreaks in DRC. The DRC FETP alongside the Ministry of Health are responding to the 10th and 11th Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreaks, as well as Polio and COVID-19. A total of 69 FETP residents supported by United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through AFENET are currently in the field and 20 more will be deployed soon in the Equateur Province. In total 89 FETP residents and graduates will be supported in the response. The DRC FETP has also assigned 107 FETP residents and graduates who are currently in the field with partner organizations responding to different outbreaks. The integrated approach strategy works by reinforcing the national public health surveillance and response system. The objective of the integrated response is for; effective and efficient use of resources; improve the flow and use of information for detecting and responding to the various public health threats; and to improve DRC’s capacity to detect and respond to the ongoing disease outbreaks.