The University of Yaounde 1 (UY1), Cameroon hosted the 3rd- and 4th MARCAD Training on Leadership and Biostatistics, held from 14-25th October 2019. The official launching ceremony of the two workshop took place, on Friday 18th, in the room conference of the Higher National School of the university.
The event was chaired by the vice-Rector, Prof Dontsi, in presence of the ambassadors of Senegal, of Tchad, of Central-African-Republic, the British high commission representant, the university authorities, MARCAD’s northern partners represented by Prof Charles Wondji, some professors of the University, the MARCAD secretariat, fellows and other participants.
Read more: Official Launching Ceremony of the 3rd and 4th MARCAD Workshops in Yaoundé/Cameroon
As part of its training and personal development activities, MARCAD organized a weekly course on Leadership at the University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon from 14th to 28th October 2019. The five day workshop aimed at improving the leadership capacity of MARCAD fellows and other support staff.
It further delivered the needed leadership skills that enable them to be more effective in their scientific work and collaboration with others across disciplinary and professional boundaries.
Read more: MARCAD Leadership Workshop: Training the next African scientists Leaders
Abstract
Several efforts are being made now for malaria elimination with a goal for eradication. New tools and strategies are being developed and there is currently renewed political engagement and interest. Several technical groups have produced a guide on elimination for policymakers and indicated different research questions to be addressed. The World Health Assembly resolution and the United Nations General Assembly convened a high-level roundtable “From High Burden to High Impact: Getting back on track to end Malaria”. In Africa, the Head of states pronounced a vision for an Africa free of malaria and launched the slogan “Zero malaria starts with me”. Massive efforts to sustain research capacity in the endemic countries will be critical. It will be important to both increase domestic financing, and advocate to sustain and increase funding from major donor countries. It is unethical to continue to observe deaths of so many children in malaria endemic countries, the most vulnerable populations. Considering malaria eradication as a vision and working with all the opportunities we now have could accelerate the process. Eliminating malaria with a country regional approach and progressing step by step will give us consistent information on our way towards eradication.
MARCAD PhD fellow, Oumou Kalsom Gueye and Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Kevin Opondo participated in the activities organized within the 6th Annual Conference of the Pan-African Mosquito Control Association (PAMCA) in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on September 2019.
Oumou Kalsom Gueye took part in the Women in Vector Control Workshop (WIVC) held as the prelude to the PAMCA conference.
The workshop objectives were to conduct a situation gap analysis of women participation in the control of VBDs, to develop practical tools that enable visibility of women in vector control in Africa, and to develop a structured programme for strengthening the capacity of WIVC in Africa.
According to Oumou, the workshop was an important moment of learning and thinking about the next step in her scientific career.
"As a woman scientist, the Women in Vector Control Workshop reinforced my desire to become even more involved in research. We learned about leadership, mentorship... and especially how to overcome the barriers that prevent women from establishing themselves in the scientific research community.
The UCAD/secretariat team of the Malaria Research Capacity Development in West and Central Africa (MARCAD) paid a 3 day visit to the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) Ho, specifically to the School of Medicine, Ho from Tuesday, September 24, 2019 to Thursday, September 26, 2019.
The purpose of the visit was to meet the MARCAD-UHAS fellows, financial staff and to discuss about their works and also to promote collaboration with the University.
MARCAD Consortium Secretariat
Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Odontology
University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) of Dakar, Senegal