MENAFRINET II: STRENGTHENING SOUTH-SOUTH COLLABORATION LEARNING BURKINA EXPERIENCE ABOUT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN EOC (CORUS)

The second day of Niger visitors in Ouagadougou has been spent at the Emergency Operation Center (namely the CORUS in Burkina Faso).

The work began with an introduction to the visitors, the presentation of the participants followed by a guided tour of the EOC premises led by the Director of CORUS, Dr Brice Bicaba.

The delegation was very impressed by STELab and his contribution to the emergency management. The STELab Help Desk team presented the platform, how the helpdesk is connected and managing the end-users countrywide. The team has demonstrated the monitoring screen, showed the surveillance performance indicators including the mapping and the ability to download data for others analysis.

Chaired by the Director of CORUS, the meeting was devoted to discussions on the organization of CORUS, the coordination of the implementation of response activities to health emergencies and the contribution of the STELab platform for a rapid response to these health emergencies. The coordination of the management of the health crisis linked to the terrorist attacks in Yirgou (a village in the northern region of Burkina Faso) and the response to the meningitis epidemic due to the germ NmC in 2019 in Diapaga district, were presented and discussed.

Many questions have been asked, demonstrating the envy to learn more, understand to better replicate good practices and avoid mistakes. A lot of concerns about sustainability, human resources, availability of emergency funds, advocacy strategy applied, … and more.

The Niger team said has received satisfactory answers to their questions. They warmly thanked all the actors (CORUS and Davycas) for the efforts made to achieve so much. A lunch has been offered at the end of the session.