Policy and Public Engagement for Rabies Elimination in Africa
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Afrique one African Science Partnership for Intervention Research aspire news Excellence (Afrique One-ASPIRE)/Newsletter N°4, June 2020 Policy and Public Engagement for Rabies Elimination in Africa . News Questions to In this issue Blockchain technology for the Prof Sarah Cleaveland, DVM, PhD, fight against rabies University of Glasgow Portrait Dossier Distribution of TTP Rabies Policy engagement for fellows and various Rabies elimination in Africa research subjects (East and West) www.afriqueoneaspire.net - Newsletter June 2020 | 1 - Summary Editorial : ….…………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………….........……………………………………... 3 Rabies, a silent killer in the noisy killer COVID-19 pandemic! News : ..………………………………………………….……………………………………………...…………………………………………….………………………….. 4 Block Rabies Workshop Learning Package (Bouaké and Abidjan) Portrait : ............……………………………………………………...……………………………………………………………………….............................. 4-5 Afrique One-ASPIRE rabies team members Dossier: ..……………………………………………………...……….…………………………….………………………………………………………………….. 6-10 Dr Prisca N’Dour (Integrated regional approaches for Rabies elimination in East and West Africa). Christian Duamor, Kennedy Lushashi and Ahmed Lugelo share Tanzania experience in community engagement and collaboration with government. Nestor N'Dri, Rose Delima A. N'Guessan, Vessaly Kallo and Bassirou Bonfoh (Mass dog vaccination campaign and actors training). Jean Mbaipago Nodjimbadem, Séraphin Madjadinan Alladoumngar, community engagement and integrated case management in Tchad. Questions to Sarah Cleaveland : ………………………………………………...……………………………….……........11 Projects News : ………………………………………………..…………………………………………....…………………………………………....12-13 MOMIB project Meningitis elimination Wound Management Publication Director Contributors Prof Bassirou Bonfoh Prof Bassirou Bonfoh 01 P.O Box 1303 Abidjan 01 Editor-in-chief Prof Sarah Cleaveland Fax: (+225) 23 45 12 11 Lisette Anoh-Affanou Dr des. Kathrin Heitz-Tokpa Tel: (+225) 23 47 27 90 / 92 Dr Andrée Prisca N’dour Co-editor Dr Kallo Vessaly [email protected] Dr Kathrin Heitz-Tokpa Ahmed Lugelo Christian Tetteh Duamor Copy editor Kennedy Lushasi ©Afrique One-ASPIRE/2020 Dr Katharina Kreppel Rose Delima Akissi N’guessan Nestor Kouassi N’Dri Graphic Designer Nodjimbadem M’bapaïgo Jean Afrique One-ASPIRE Séraphin Madjadinan Alladoumngar - 2 | www.afriqueoneaspire.net - Newsletter June 2020 Editorial Rabies, a silent killer in the noisy killer COVID-19 pandemic! abies continues to plague the world and throughout Africa, even if today the pandemic of the century, COVID-19 presents itself as more worrying in health, social and economic perspectives. In this COVID-19 pandemic, one should not overlook the Rother endemic infections, zoonosis and pathologies as they may go neglected and lead to more effect on the population. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 60'000 rabies deaths worldwide are registered each year. More than 95% of these human cases of rabies occur in Africa and Asia, especially in children. Rabies is transmitted to humans by animals, with over 99% of cases due to dog bites. Africa currently registers 2'080 deaths each month, far beyond the current COVID-19 data in Africa. Highlighting these figures along-side the growing COVID-19 pandemic is justified for various reasons, including (i) failure of health systems, (ii) lack of access to care, (iii) Prof Bassirou Bonfoh inadequate supply chains and (iv) lack of communication Director of Afrique One-ASPIRE between sectors. Both diseases emerged at different periods Photo credit ©Afrique One-ASPIRE at the human, animal and environment interface and the knowledge on rabies can feed the COVID-19 strategies. Several measures are being taken to achieve zero human implemented? What are the policy adoptions? How did deaths by 2030 by stepping up the responses. Among them, they reverse the progression of rabies? Which countries the One Health approach, the emergence of a collaborative have benefited from it? How are intersectoral and political approach between different health sectors, including collaboration done? And who are the actors on the ground? human and animal health, for an integrated control system. We provide in this newsletter answers to these questions. Finally, thanks to EDCTP, we are launching, the Blockchain Afrique One-ASPIRE strategies include policy and community high coverage rabies post-exposure prophylaxis this April, to ownership of the control interventions based on developed achieve zero human rabies deaths in Africa. It is the first time scientific solutions in Africa. How are these strategies the Blockchain technology is used in health systems in Africa. Prof Bassirou Bonfoh intervention with Blockchain technology for the fight again rabies - CSRS (Côte d’Ivoire) Photo credit ©Afrique One-ASPIRE www.afriqueoneaspire.net - Newsletter June 2020 | 3 - News Blockchain technology for the fight against rabies Blockchain technology workshop for the fight again rabies - CSRS (Côte d’Ivoire) Photo credit ©Afrique One-ASPIRE lockRabies is the short form of “Blockchain high coverage rabies monitoring of the vaccine stocks in the countries covered by the project. post-exposure prophylaxis to achieve zero human rabies deaths in Mali and Côte d’Ivoire are the two pilot countries of the study. They both Africa”. This EDCTP-funded project is the latest associated project benefited from post-bite vaccination protocols (post-exposure prophylaxis) Bof Afrique One-ASPIRE in the fight to eliminate rabies by 2030. With in a project funded by the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization the use of blockchain technology, it strives to address poor communication (GAVI) between 2016 and 2018. Furthermore, the GAVI project led to the between public and animal health services and remedy delays in the supply establishment of a thorough database of the rabies burden in these two chain of vaccines. countries, which will serve as a baseline for the new project. The team led by Prof. Jakob Zinsstag, Principal Investigator (PI) of the project BlockRabies is a collaboration between the Swiss Tropical and Public Health and Co-PI of Afrique One-ASPIRE, met at Centre Suisse de Recherches Institute, two institutions in Mali (the Central Veterinary Laboratory and the Scientifiques (CSRS) in Côte d’Ivoire from 6th to 7th January 2020 on the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako), three invitation of Prof. Bassirou Bonfoh, Director of Afrique One-ASPIRE and Co-PI institutions in Côte d'Ivoire (CSRS, the National Institute of Public Hygiene and of the new project. the Directorate of Veterinary Services), the company Health Information During this preparatory workshop, Afrique One-ASPIRE fellows from the Traceability (HIT) Foundation based in Switzerland and Institute Pasteur in Thematic Training Programme "Rabies", coming from Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, France. Senegal and Tanzania, learnt about how the blockchain technology During the workshop, the objectives of each work package were presented works and how it will serve in rabies control strategies. This non-corruptible and a timeline for the different activities established. The project will last 4 application will allow public and animal health authorities to (i) develop years. After the successful preparatory workshop, the project was officially an electronic database on integrated case management as part of the kick-started in April 2020. care and monitoring system of dog bite victims, and (ii) to ensure better Afrique One-ASPIRE learning package is exported to public university Learning Package group photo Photo credit ©Afrique One-ASPIRE t the request of the management team of the department institutional rules and procedures. In short, the training allowed participants of Communication, Environment and Society of the Bouaké to improve their skills to build a successful research career. They are now University in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the programme Afrique One- able to design and manage a project technically and financially, make ASPIRE organized the first edition of the “Learning package” at professional oral presentations and posters, as well as use new tips and AAlassane Ouattara University in Bouaké (UAO). tricks in scientific English. At the end of the course, participants proudly showed their certificates. The module-based Learning Package is part of the support for research training that the CSRS offers to universities of Côte d´Ivoire and its sub The Learning Package was delivered with the support of Afrique One- regions. For one week, from January 27th to 31st 2020, 40 researchers ASPIRE to provide young African scientists with these essential tools, and lecturers from the department of Communication, Environment and which are necessary to become internationally competitive. Additionally, Society benefitted from this capacity strengthening programme. Afrique One-ASPIRE and CSRS aim to develop facilitators by providing training for trainers and hence some new facilitators used the delivery of Among other subjects, the training focussed on the management this Learning Package to learn. of research projects, the use of software, communication skills and - 4 | www.afriqueoneaspire.net - Newsletter June 2020 Team Dr Godfrey Mbaruku, PI († 2018), IHI, Prof Bassirou Bonfoh, DVM, PI ad Interim, Dr Nicodemus James Govella, PI, IHI, Tanzania Director of Afrique One-ASPIRE, associated Tanzania researcher at CSRS, Côte d’Ivoire [email protected] [email protected] Dr Walter Ossebi, Co-PI, Dr