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.
Geographic Information System training in Sierra Leone
Africa is witnessing a surge in outbreaks of diseases over the past few years which has placed a substantial demand for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) skills by epidemiologists and other public health professionals to adequately understand spatial patterns of disease outbreaks and surveillance data to essentially deploy timely and appropriate intervention. Yet, knowledge and use of this effective system is limited among public health personnel. As a result, the Sierra Leone Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) held a training on the use of GIS to address the health challenge by employing tools and skills necessary to equip health professionals including district officers, regional and national staff of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, with geospatial techniques for mapping disease case data, and estimating spatially-explicit prevalence aimed at identifying high-risk areas. The training held from 30 May – 10 June 2022 provided participants with the theoretical background and hands-on training on tools necessary for understanding health event patterns. Speaking to the benefit of the training, some residents said; “I am now confident to create different maps using QGIS and hope to cascade this training to others” – Binta Muhammed Bah, FETP Frontline Mentor “The training has been an eye-opener and has expanded my scope on how to apply GIS in maternal death recorded in districts and regions. This I believe will help improve the maternal death surveillance and analyze the data available”. – Zainabu Juheh Bah, Maternal death focal person/ Ministry of Health and Sanitation “The training was a good opportunity to learn about some ways of analyzing my data. The presentation on the concept of GIS and the various practical sessions will help me to generate maps that can be applied to my available data. Building concepts for spatial analysis has been something new that i learnt and will apply very well”. – Gibrilla B. Timbo, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer/ EPI, Ministry of Health and Sanitation Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) was the software used in data analysis, visualization and map creation. GIS is designed to collect, store, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data. The ability of the system to integrate and visualize non-spatial attribute information is the main strength of GIS. Participants learned basic concepts of GIS mapping, spatial data preparations, basic map projections, basic spatial analysis and visualization and interpretation of disease maps (spot, buffer, and choropleth maps). The focus of the training was to train health workers on the application of GIS in their daily work to improve their reports outputs with the help of a team of experts who developed the curriculum and the relevant training materials.
Sierra Leone FETP participates in response to Lassa fever outbreak in Tonkolili District
Trainees of the Sierra Leone Frontline and intermediate FETPs alongside 2 of their mentors joined a Lassa fever outbreak investigation in Tonkolili district from 22 November to 21 December 2019. The team participated in case investigations, contact tracing, data analysis and writing of daily situation reports (SITREPs) for dissemination. Ms. Magoba Bridget is the Informatics specialist also joined the team to support data analysis and ensure real time reporting of suspected cases using the electronic case-based disease surveillance system (eCBDS).
AFENET team conducts working visit to Sierra Leone Field Epidemiology Training Program
This was under the auspices of the AFENET – US CDC Cooperative Agreement (CoAg) to support activities in Sierra Leone in order to improve on program coordination and accelerate activity implementation. The team was composed of technical, administrative, finance and procurement liaisons to support the country team with AFENET policies, guidelines and procedures of operation. During the two-week visit, the team met with the Health Security and Emergencies Director at the Health Ministry Dr. Mohamed Alex Vandi to discuss AFENET’s role in support of his department, which come out clearly from the tremendous work undertaken by our team in workforce development and surveillance in support of early disease detection and responses. “The team met with the CDC country team (Deputy director Ms. Chinyere Ekechi, CoAg specialist Mr. Alieya Alie Kargbo) discussed the comparative working relationships of our organizations and the need for CDC to continue supporting AFENET to implement FETP and other programs supported in the country. CDC pointed out the peculiar working terms and conditions for our team, which requires revision of ToRs,” an end of visit report reads in part. The visiting team held a general staff meeting to orientate country team on AFENET’s policies and procedures particularly on procurement guidelines, staff entitlement of Rest and Recuperation (R&R), financial/activity requisitions and retirement (accountability), mode of operations especially financial flow system and activity implementation strategies. Information and Communication Technology support was also extended to the FETP team. Dr. Godfrey Kayita headed the AFENET Secretariat team. Members on the team included Mr. Gilbert Kagumya (Administrative liaison), Mr. Harrison Mubiru (Finance Liaison), Steven Kyambadde (Senior Procurement Officer) and Mr. Michael Nkanika (Web Systems and Database Administrator).