MENAFRINET II STRENGTHENING THE TIES FOR A SOUTH-SOUTH COLLABORATION DAY 4: EBS, SARI, AND STELAB PRESENTATION AND DEMONSTRATION WORKSHOP AT BOUSSÉ HEALTH DISTRICT AND LAYE HEALTH CENTER

By Simon Ouédraogo and Serge Ismael Ouédraogo

Photos by Felix Tarbagdo

The Niger team’s stay went on their day 4 to visit the health district of Boussé and the Health and Social Promotion Center (CSPS) at Laye. Both rural communities are located North-East (50 km) of Ouagadougou, the capital city. The visit’s agenda was to learn from the presentation and demonstration of EBS, SARI and STELab.

Dr Abdoulaye Ouédraogo, Medical Chief Doctor (head of the health district of Boussé) gave introductory remarks to provide the participants with district-level health data. The district serves a total population of 182,000 inhabitants.

The local STELab team then took the floor to show their work in the system and the management of Event-Based Surveillance in their community. They also offered their visitors a detailed presentation on the integrated biological specimen referral system.

The presentations gave a full view of the surveillance strategies implemented by the district and how they relate and collaborate with the MoH through the Directorate of Population Health Protection (DPSP). More specifically, they addressed the steps taken for the implementation of surveillance systems, the operation of the platform and the challenges met. The visitors were allowed to ask questions during a discussion session.

Another key moment of the day happened when the team met the health information and statistics desk and the laboratory team in charge of the integrated biological specimen referral system. The visitors could see how the specimen packaging is done, their shipping routes, the items filling and the processing on the electronic platform at each step.

The field visit continued at the Health Center of Laye where the visitors had the opportunity to visit and interact with the maternity department and the dispensary. A simulation of an health education session was held to show how the EBS messages are conveyed through the training aids used by community health workers. They also had interactions with the community health workers during the education conversation.

Back in Ouagadougou, the team held a debriefing meeting to assess the achievements of their trip. Furthermore, future plans were listed and discussed as of how the lessons learnt can help improve ongoing and future activities back in Niger.