Quality improvement program: training of regional supervisors and mentors, 7th – 9th november 2022
As a part of the quality improvement program, the Sierra Leone field epidemiology training program organized supervisors training (continuous professional training) in Bo district southern province of Sierra Leone, from the 7th to the 9th of November 2022. The main objective of this training was to build the capacity of FETP graduates to become future supervisors and mentors for intermediate trainees. Six intermediate graduates selected from Bo, Kailahun, Tonkolili, Bombali, and Western Area Urban districts participated in this training.
Sierra Leone Conference report on 3rd Emmet A. Dennis National Scientific Conference
The National Public Health Institute Of Liberia (NPHIL) in collaboration with AFENET and support from partners is hosting a three-day National Scientific Conference beginning today, Monday, to the August 31, 2022 to cultivate and incentivize innovations by shedding light on the work of scientists and providing a platform that will showcase their knowledge, collective skills and scientific techniques. It is part of NPHIL’s broader mission and mandate to prevent and control public health threats by promoting healthy outcomes and serving as a source of knowledge and expertise for advancing science in Liberia. This year, 3rd Emmet A. Dennis National Scientific Conference was held at the Ellen Johnson Ministerial Complex, Monrovia, Liberia on the theme: “Maintaining Public Health during a Pandemic”. No. Name Designation/role 1 Kassim Kamara FETP Intermediate Mentor 2 Alhaji Amara Sheriff FETP Intermediate Mentor 3 Joel F Mansaray FETP Frontline Mentor 4 Sahr Amara Moiba Presenter 5 Dauda Kamara Presenter 6 Abass Kamara Presenter 7 Mohamed S Bah Presenter 8 Nancy Patricia Campbell Presenter 9 Alpha Umaru Bai-Sesay Presenter 10 Paul S Mansaray Presenter Presentations: the three poster presentations were made on August 30 and 31 2022 while all the oral presentations were made on 31 August 2022. The presentations attracted several participants including scientists, epidemiologists, and laboratory and vaccine experts. They used the opportunity to explain the work done by Sierra Leone FETP graduates in public health. Interested participants asked questions which both presenters correctly clarified. Achievement One of our participants, Mohamed S Bah, was awarded the best Poster Presentation.
Mohamed S. Bah wins the best poster at Liberia 3rd Emmet A. Dennis National Scientific Conference
The National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), in collaboration with her partners, including AFENET, successfully hosted the 3rd Emmet A. Dennis National Scientific Conference held from August 29 to 31, 2022, at the EJS Ministerial Complex Monrovia. The theme of the conference was “Maintaining Public Health during a Pandemic.” The first and second editions of the conference were held in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The conference is an annual event that provides the scientific community in Liberia the opportunity and platform to share research findings and deliberate on recent developments in public health and other related scientific disciplines. The conference could not hold in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted travel and in-person meetings. The Director General of NPHIL, Hon. Jane A. MaCauley, in her opening remarks, noted that this year’s conference was a deliberate effort to relaunch and reignite Liberia’s scientific zest and passion. The conference had eight plenary sessions with speakers drawn from global, regional, and national public health experts, policymakers, and stakeholders. There were three concurrent oral breakout sessions, two concurrent poster breakout sessions, and three panel discussions with over 94 scientific abstracts presented. Dr. Tom Frieden and Dr. Moeti (represented by Dr. Clement, WHO Liberia Country Lead) made presentations on the theme. The various sub-themes speakers drawn from US CDC, UNICEF, Liberia One Health Platform, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Ministry of Justice, etc. The conference had over 290 attendees from Liberia, Sierra Leone, the United States of America, Uganda, Somalia, Ghana, and the Gambia. The attendees were drawn from academia, research institutions, public health policymakers, international Non-Governmental Organizations, funding agencies, and independent public health experts.
Sierra Leone Intermediate FETP Orientation
On 16 September 2019, Sierra Leone FETP held an orientation for the recently enrolled Cohort III Intermediate FETP. The cohort comprised 15 trainees comprising health surveillance and laboratory and agriculture officers from the following locations: 4 national staff, 2 Bombali, 2 Koinadugu, 2 Kambia, 1 Kailahun, 2 Bonthe, 1 Bo, 1 Tonkolili and 1 Kenema district. Cohort III commenced with workshop one that covered introductory topics in epidemiology, after which they were deployed to conduct surveillance system evaluations in their respective work places.
AFENET, CDC strengthen sustainability of global health security in Sierra Leone
The AFENET team in Sierra Leone in collaboration with a team from the Secretariat, held the first strategic planning meeting from 19 -22 April 2022 to discuss the Sierra Leone cooperative agreement (CoAg) which is now in its second year of implementation for a 5-year timeline. The three-day meeting was held in Freetown to review last year’s performance and also plan for the next financial year, which will be the third year of implementation of this CoAg. AFENET was awarded this CoAg in 2020 and it will run till 2025. Titled Strengthening Sustainability of Global Health Security Objectives in Sierra Leone, the CoAg seeks to support workforce development, surveillance, expanded program on immunization, laboratory, port health, and emergency response to public health events. The strategic planning meeting was graced by the presence of the US CDC Deputy Director – Technical, Dr. Monique Foster, and the Workforce Development specialist, Dr. John Kamara). The AFENET secretariat team was led by Dr. Godfrey Kayita together with Finance Liason Mr. Harrison Mubiru and Monitoring & Evaluation specialist Mr. Humphrey Kabugo.
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).