Concord Times (Freetown)
16 May 2011
Freetown — The ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) in collaboration with Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has trained a second cohort of 25 surveillance officers and monitoring and evaluation officers on surveillance and outbreak investigation after attending a short course on Field Epidemiology training programme.
The participants of the course successfully completed the classroom and field research work on disease surveillance and outbreak investigation. The individual research included evaluation of disease surveillance system, data analysis, interpretation and investigation of disease outbreaks. Their work was presented to panel of evaluators including their instructors, course directors, director of Disease Prevention and Control and National Disease Surveillance manager as well as experts from WHO. Their research work highlighted successes, gaps and challenges as well as recommendations.
Addressing the awardees, Dr. Wondimagegnehu Alemu, WHO country representative, reiterated the importance of the training in building the knowledge and skills base in surveillance and response at national and district levels. He said “now you have the necessary knowledge and skill, what is remaining is putting it into practice.”
In his statement, Dr. Amara Jambai, director of DPC, said the success of disease prevention relies largely on effective surveillance systems and encourage them to be more vigilant in their work.
The training programme is an ongoing effort by MoHS and its development partners to improve capacity of district surveillance, monitoring and evaluation in the country.
Dr. Chima Ohuabunwo, CDC/AFENET, said that plans were underway to train the third cohort in the 4th quarter of 2011. CDC-GAP and CDC/FELTP African branch through PEPFAR supported financially while AFENET coordinated the training.
WHO is collaborating with CDC in supporting the MoHS to strengthen IDSR nationwide. MoHS is currently developing a National Surveillance and Response Strategic Plan with support from WHO and CDC.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Originally posted here:
Health Ministry Trains More Disease Surveillance Officers