The Africa CDC\nInstitute for Workforce Development (IWD) was established in partnership with the Rollins School\nof Public Health at Emory University to strengthen public health workforce in Africa through training of public health professionals already\nworking at National Public Health Institutes, Ministries of Health and other\nrelated institutes in African Union Member States. The courses are delivered\nonline, in-person or through a combination of both channels, by a carefully\nselected faculty, using context-appropriate, culturally sensitive and technically\ninstructive modules that are tailored to the needs of trainees and their Member\nStates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IWD is conducting the following four priority courses in 2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least 30 new diseases have emerged in the\nlast 20 years and the first line of defense against any emerging pathogen is\nits rapid detection for prevention, detection and response, therefore, public\nhealth professionals must have information about the parameters of disease\noccurrence to develop and maintain prevention and control programmes. Transforming\nPublic Health Surveillance (TPHS) provides an overview of the history,\npurposes, activities, uses, elements, data sources, models, analyses, actions,\nreporting, evaluation, and ethical and legal issues in public health\nsurveillance. It examines the four key movements:\ngovernance, collaborations, informatics and analytics. The course is designed for surveillance\nspecialists, public health workers and staff of Public Health Emergency\nOperations Centres (PHEOC) of African Union Member States. The course duration\nis approximately one month and is delivered online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Antimicrobial resistance\n(AMR) is recognized as a major global health challenge that requires urgent\naction. It is estimated that 700,000 deaths\noccur annually due to AMR and if the trend continues, it could cause over 10\nmillion deaths per year and over US$ 100 trillion economic loss globally by\n2050. The main factors accelerating AMR are the growing use and misuse\nof antimicrobials in human and animals and contamination in the food chain and\nthe environment. Though there is limited data on AMR systematic surveillance,\nstudies suggest that consequences of AMR are likely to be more serious in\nAfrica due to weak health system and the spread of resistance promoted by poor\ninfection control, limited diagnostics, dual problem of excess counterfeit\ndrugs and lack of access to quality medicines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This course will equip policy decision-makers\nand public health managers with the evidence and public health principles and\napproaches required for standard practices to contain AMR at national and\nregional levels. It explores the history of antibiotics, the impact of misuse\non humans, animals and the environment, and the mechanism of resistance. It\ndescribes policies and regulations to guide actions in delaying emergence of\nAMR, limiting transmission and mitigating harm among patients infected with AMR\norganisms.It highlights strategies\nand lessons from the epidemiology and burden of AMR as well as global and\nregional responses to improve surveillance and data sharing, building on the\ncritical importance of the one health approach. It is targeted at policy\ndecision-makers, public health managers, clinical and laboratory practitioners,\nand civil society groups and aligns to the guidelines in the Africa CDC\nstrategic framework for AMR. The duration for the\nfirst part of the course is approximately six weeks and it\u2019s delivered online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nproposal writing course provides guidance on how participants can transform\ntheir ideas into strong grant proposals, and search grant markets for potential\nfunders. It covers the mechanics of grant\nwriting, including the scientific and administrative components, using didactic\nand applied training to build competency in developing proposals for public\nhealth programmes or research projects. It equips trainees with the skills to\nidentify a suitable funding opportunity, distinguish between different types of\nfunding mechanisms and funding agencies, to fit their ideas to the funding\nagency\u2019s guidelines, and to navigate the grant review process. The primary target audience for the course includes public health\nprofessionals within Africa CDC, NPHIs and the Ministries of Health, and\nmembers of academic institutions and partner agencies who are involved in\nproposal development. The course is delivered through seven weeks of online work and a\nthree-day face-to-face meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The interconnectedness of the global health village requires well-rounded health leaders and managers equipped with the right mix of competencies, skills and behaviours needed to build capacity for early warning, risk reduction and management of national and global public health threats. This course is designed to strengthen the leadership and management capacity of NPHIs executives and managers so they can better respond to the changing national and global health environment. It combines theory with practice through lectures, additional reading of relevant literature, written assignments, group exercises and case studies as well as experience-sharing by individuals who are successfully leading or have led public health agencies in developing countries. The course will consist of individual and team exercises and tests and will be delivered online for approximately four weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n