Technical Support Activities 2019
VACFA Board Meeting, Cape Town, South Africa
Since 2017, NESI staff is member of the VACFA board. The VACFA Board Meeting took place on 7 November 2019, during the 15th Annual African Vaccinology Course.
Training in immunisation: Vaccinology Short Courses, Pretoria, South Africa
The duration of each session is two days. The first day comprises of interactive lectures, while the second day focuses on group work and case studies.
NESI was invited as external reviewer to attend a session of the VSC from 30 to 31 October 2019 in Pretoria, South Africa.
NITAG Partners Retreat, Copenhagen, Denmark
The meeting was attended by the chair and steering committee members of the GNN, WHO/HQ, WHO/AFRO, WHO/EMRO, WHO/EURO, WHO/PAHO, CDC, Wellcome Trust, Task Force for Global Health, Robert Koch Institute, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Gavi, NESI/University of Antwerp. WHO/WPRO connected remotely.
The annual NITAG partners retreat is an important moment to exchange, align and coordinate activities with the main stakeholders involved in supporting NITAGs at various levels.
The objectives of the meeting included:
- Review current partners activities and engagements in regions and countries
- Present results of the scoping work
- Discuss indicators to monitor NITAGs’ performance
- Give an overview of the sysvac2 project
- Identify priority areas of collaborative work
- Tools and curricula for training
- Stages of development framework
- NITAG twinning formalization
- Review the Global NITAG Network work plan and discuss meeting agenda
NESI was invited to participate in the NITAG Partners retreat and gave an overview of past and current training activities in support of NITAGs. It was also an excellent opportunity to discuss and align activities and ideas with other NITAG partners, as to avoid duplication and increase impact.
Main priorities for the coming year were agreed upon among partners and regions.
NITAGs Inter-country Workshop, Amman, Jordan
GHD aims to support targeted countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to operationalize their NITAGs according to the globally approved standards, through a comprehensive process.
The objective of the workshop was to develop a common understanding about the NITAG functionality criteria and strengthen NITAGs capacity in terms of recommendation-making process. A functional and effective NITAG helps to provide answers to complex immunisation issues and contributes to the decision-making process, which should be credible, accountable and independent. Therefore, well-trained NITAGs and EPI/NITAG secretariat are of utmost importance.
Participants included NITAG chairs and EPI managers from the follwoing countries: Afghanistan, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia.
Representative from partner organisations attended and facilitated the workshop: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), WHO/HQ and WHO/EMRO, UNICEF, Gavi, Global NITAG Network (GNN) and NESI/University of Antwerp.
The workshop focused on the functionality of the NITAGs. Findings of the NITAGs assessment exercise that was carried out prior to the workshop were shared with the participants. All partners presented their experience with capacity building of the NITAGs. The participants were also introduced to the concept and process of evidence-based recommendation-making. A framework for monitoring NITAG functionality was discussed and agreed upon.
The training workshop was well received by the participants. They expressed the need for further training and capacity building. The participating countries committed to finalize their respective NITAG improvement plans when returning to their countries.
Training in immunisation: “Higher Certificate in Vaccinology”, Pretoria, South Africa
NESI was invited by SAVIC/SMU to be external moderator for three modules: (1) Introduction to immune response against infectious diseases; (2) Introduction to vaccinology; and (3) Introduction to vaccine manufacture and distribution.