The MARCAD Plus distinguished itself at the Multilateral Initiative on malaria (MIM)

The MARCAD Plus delegation, led by Professor Oumar Gaye, its director, distinguished itself throughits  participation in the various activities held during the 8^th edition of the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM), held from April 21^st to 27^th in Kigali, Rwanda. MARCAD Plus also attracted the interest of MIM participants thanks to the symposium it organized on April 24^th as part of the MIM meetings.

Malaria and NTDs Capacity Development in West and Centre Africa (MARCAD Plus) programme featured prominently in the panel discussion on capacity building for malaria elimination. Prof Oumar Gaye, MARCAD Plus Director, participated as a leading expert in discussions at the panel which brought together senior malaria experts including Dr Jennifer Gardy from Gates foundation, Prof Marcel Tanner from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and Dr Tom Nyirenda from EDCTP.

Given his experience over the years, Prof Gaye was asked by the panel moderator to describe the most effective strategies implemented in capacity building for malaria elimination in Africa.

In his responses, the MARCAD Plus director highlighted some of the main strategies at the local level such as:

• Capacity building in malaria control of the Chief Medical Officers/1997 with the establishment of the NCMP, acceptance of the revised policies
• Implementation of a malaria course in collaboration with the NMCP for medical officers & nurse technicians, private sector: Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Prevention, Surveillance
• Establishment of surveillance sentinel sites in urban and rural areas: collaborating with the local stakeholders; several students did their thesis on these sites
• Engagement and Empowerment of the communities; Training in diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and surveillance, with main achievements PECADOM, SMC, IPTp
• Implementing research and training centers at the peripheral level (Keur Socé, Saraya, lands offered by the community.

Prof Gaye also emphasised strategies implemented at the regional level as: the Establishment of regional networks:  WANMAT (participation of NMCP & partners, Surveillance officers and technician officer) ,  EANMAT, SANMAT,  WHO afro funded training malaria control& elimination (…)  among others.

Like the MARCAD Plus Director, the programme’s fellows also participated in various activities organized during the MIM. They presented a part of their research at the 8^th Pan African Malaria Conference poster session. Some of them also made oral presentations of their work.

MARCAD Plus took the opportunity given by the MIM which is a major African and worldwide meeting on malaria to hold a symposium on ''Partnership for Research and Capacity Development on Malaria & Neglected Tropical Diseases in West & Central Africa''.

The symposium discussed the experiences of building a regional partnership with research and academic institutions and national malaria programs for capacity building on Malaria and NTDs supported by the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA). The meeting was chaired by the programme Director and co-chaired by Prof Wilfred Mbacham MARCAD plus PI in Cameroon and MIM Executive Director of the MIM Society.

The symposium, which was attended by many participants of the MIM conference highlighted results from projects in Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Mali, and Senegal, reviewed lessons learned, and best practices. Priorities for the control of malaria and NTDs on the road to elimination were also discussed during the MARCAD event.

The speakers developed essential themes for strengthening the partnership between research institutions in general and those in Africa in particular taking MARCAD consortium as an example of scientific collaboration.

Prof  Oumar Gaye made his presentation on  ''MARCAD a Partnership for Research and Capacity Development ''.

Prof Wilfred F. Mbacham for the most part focused on '' Outreach and Reaching out beyond MARCAD in Central Africa.

The final theme which was articulated on '' Towards a change in strategies to fight malaria and NTDs: role of MARCAD-plus in Mali '' was presented by Prof Safiatou Niare Doumbo, MARCAD Plus PI in Mali. During her talk She highlighted the achievements of Malian fellows ( Niangaly, Coulibaly, A. Koné)

The MARCAD Plus symposium also highlighted personal experiences and common challenges of fellows during their training: the gender balance aspects, the link between the research findings and their translation into policies and actions. MARCAD’s alumni fellows, Dr Innocent Ali from Cameroon and Matilda Aberese Ako from Ghana and MACAD Plus’s postdoctoral fellow Oumou Kalsom Gueye from Senegal gave useful details of their personal experience within MARCAD and the positive impacts of the programme in their respective careers.

Here is the Facebook Direct link of the MARCAD Plus symposium at MIM for more details:

https://web.facebook.com/MARCADprogramme/videos/1813623169159051