United Republic of Tanzania hosts the 65th ECSA Health Ministers Conference

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EAST, CENTRAL, AND SOUTHERN AFRICA HEALTH COMMUNITY Fostering Regional Cooperation for M A R C H 2 0 1 8 United Republic of Tanzania hosts the 65th ECSA Health Ministers Conference Each Year ECSA-HC

This year the Conference was hosted by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC) of the United Republic of Tanzania as the current chair of the HMC.

P), Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, who reiterated the Tanzania s commitment to continue hosting the ECSA Health Community in Arusha, and continued support to the organization.

The Conference was attended by the Honorable Ministers of Health of the Republic of Malawi, the Kingdom of Swaziland, Minister of State for Health of the Republic of Uganda, Deputy Minister of the

1 EAST, CENTRAL, AND SOUTHERN AFRICA HEALTH COMMUNITY Fostering Regional Cooperation for M A R C H United Republic of Tanzania hosts the 65th ECSA Health Ministers Conference Each Year ECSA-HC hosts a Conference of Health Ministers together with the chairing country to constitute Health resolutions geared towards guiding the regional health Agenda. This year the Conference was hosted by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC) of the United Republic of Tanzania as the current chair of the HMC. Opening the Conference was the Right Honourable Majaliwa Kassim Majaliwa (M.P), Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, who reiterated the Tanzania s commitment to continue hosting the ECSA Health Community in Arusha, and continued support to the organization. The conference was chaired by Hon. Ummy Mwalimu, the current Chairper- son of the Conference of Health Ministers and Minister for the MoHCDGEC. The Conference was attended by the Honorable Ministers of Health of the Republic of Malawi, the Kingdom of Swaziland, Minister of State for Health of the Republic of Uganda, Deputy Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho; the Director of Medical Services of the Republic of Kenya, the Permanent Secretary, Health Services of the Republic Zambia and the Provincial Medical Officer of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Other participating members included country representatives, technical & implementing partners including the World Health Organization, World Bank, Global Fund, IDRC, Commonwealth Secretariat (London), Scientific community and the academia of the ECSA Health Community. During the conference, the Secretariat and Member states moved forward the regional agenda through the following resolutions: ECSA/HMC65/R1: Governance and Leadership in the Health Sector ECSA/HMC65/R2: Mitigating the Impact of Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases ECSA/HMC65/R3: Multi-Sectoral Responses to Non Communicable Diseases ECSA/HMC65/R4: Accountability for Women, Children and Adolescent Health post 2015 ECSA/HMC65/R5: Recommitment of the ECSA HMC to the ECSA College of Health Sciences First Left: Chairperson of the Conference of Health Ministers, Hon. Ummy Mwalimu, chairing one of the sessions 2nd from Left: The guest of Honour (Centre), The Right Honourable Majaliwa Kassim Majaliwa, Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, with Hon. Ministers, Hon. Deputy Minister and heads of delegation from ECSA member states 3rd from Left: The guest of Honour (Centre), The Right Honourable Majaliwa Kassim Majaliwa, Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania with Hon. Ministers, Hon. Deputy Minister and some Partners.

2 P A G E 2 The Nursing labor and Education market study East Central and Southern Africa Region commissioned Health workforce play a critical role in access to quality health services.

2 2 P A G E 2 The Nursing labor and Education market study East Central and Southern Africa Region commissioned Health workforce play a critical role in access to quality health services. Nurses and midwives forms the bulk of the health workforce, thus their critical role in the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Because of the need for the nursing and midwives cadres, there has been exponential increase in Nurses and Midwives training institutions. However, the expansion in training is taking place without adequate information on real and projected need for these cadres of health workforce. Therefore, there is need to generate evidence to inform the nursing education and understand the labor markets for nurses and midwives. This evidence generated will inform appropriate investment in nurses and midwives education as well as the labour market for these cadres of health workers. As an initial step towards generating evidence on nursing education and labour market, the East Central and Southern Africa College of Nursing, ECSA-HC Secretariat, JHPIEGO and International Council of Nurses (ICN) with support of the world bank organized a stakeholder consultative meeting. The meeting which was held in Nairobi Kenya on 1 st and 2 nd March 2018 was meant to discuss the proposed analytical work aiming to assess nursing labor and education markets; engage nurse leaders, build consensus and action plan for investing in nursing educa- tion in the ECSA countries and; develop partnerships to implement recommendations from the results of the analytical work. The meeting was attended by the nurse leaders: representatives of the Directors of Nursing and Midwifery services, Registrars of the Nursing and Midwifery Councils, Presidents of National Nurses associations, Nurse Educators from universities and ECSA- CON leaders from 15 countries in including Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Participants group photo in the consultative meeting: 2-3 March 2018, Nairobi, Kenya

3 P A G E 3 ECSA College of Health Sciences 3rd Senate Meeting The East Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) College of Health Sciences (CHS) held its 3 rd Senate meeting in Lilongwe Malawi on the 5 th

3 3 P A G E 3 ECSA College of Health Sciences 3rd Senate Meeting The East Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) College of Health Sciences (CHS) held its 3 rd Senate meeting in Lilongwe Malawi on the 5 th of March The key agenda for the 3 rd Senate meeting was on how best the ECSA professional colleges trainings can better contribute to addressing the human resources for health inadequacies, especially for health specialists in the region. The ECSA CHS Senate members comprising the leadership of the ECSA discipline-based professional colleges (College of Surgeon of ECSA, COSECSA; ECSA College of Nursing, ECSACON; College of Pathologists of ECSA, COPECSA; College of Anesthesiologists of ECSA, CANECSA; ECSA College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, ECSACOG; College of Ophthalmologists of ECSA, COECSA; ECSA of Physicians, ECSACOP) identified the key drawback as the legal and regulatory frameworks that affect accreditation and recognition of the ECSA professional training. The Seneta resolved to present these issues at a stakeholders consultative meeting that was scheduled to take place the day following the Senate meeting. Following the senate meeting, the CHS stakeholders consultative meeting took place on the 6 th March The meeting was officially opened by Dr. Charles Mwansambo, the Chief of Health Services Ministry of Health Malawi on behalf of the Secretary for Health. Dr. Mwansambo noted that Malawi still faces shortage of medical specialists like other ECSA member states and pointed out that the production of specialists by the Universities alone remain inadequate. He applauded the ECSA CHS constituent colleges efforts to contributing to solving the HRH challenges in Malawi and in the region. He also noted that the trainings taking place at the health facilities is appropriate as the service delivery is not affected. He further noted that training specialists through this approach leads continuous improvement in quality of services provided in rural hospitals and staff retention where their skills are most needed amongst other advantages. The meeting had representation from Regional and National Higher Education Councils/Boards, Health Professional Councils/Boards, Medical Associations, Ministries of Health of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and ECSA professional colleges and ECSA-HC Secretariat staff. The consensus reached on to address the legal and regulatory bottlenecks affecting accreditation and registration of ECSA professional colleges training and licensure of trainees to practice as specialists. This included proper documentation by the colleges, their processes and development of relevant documents including curriculum and business plans, addressing the concerns raised by the relevant regulatory authorities and engaging stakeholders from inception and throughout. In closure, the ECSA-HC Director General, Prof. Yoswa Dambisya thanked participants for the active involvement and transparency on deliberation of the issues. He pledged ECSA-HC Secretariat support to ensuring the region gains optimally from the training of specialists through the ECSA colleges. In his closing remarks, ECSA-HC Directory General, Prof. Yoswa Dambisya thanked participants for their active involvement and transparency in deliberating on issues affecting effective operations of the ECSA Professional Colleges. He pledged ECSA-HC Secretariat s support to ensuring the region gains optimally from the training of specialists through the ECSA colleges. Senate Meeting Group Photo SURG-Africa Project Organizes 2 nd Training of Trainers Through the SURG-Africa project initiated in 2017, ECSA-HC hosted the 2 nd regional training of trainers in March 2018 in Arusha, Tanzania. The lead trainer was Grace Lee from Oxford University. Training participants were specialists in surgical care delivery from MoH Tanzania, MOI, MNH, Mt. Meru RRH, KCMC, ALMC and the intervention hospitals medical officers from Lushoto Tanga and Singida. The Royal College of Surgeon Ireland research fellow and postdoctoral researcher also participated in the training. The training objective was to train specialists in surgical care delivery to deliver mentorship and supportive supervision to Surgical Care providers at the District Level Hospitals (DLH). Specialist in surgical care delivery include Surgeons, Orthopedic Surgeons, Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Anesthesiologists and Post operation and Theatre Nurses. On-thejob training and supportive supervision will bring positive outcomes. The project will evaluate the on-thejob training and supportive supervision model to assess whether the model is effective and efficient. The SURG-Africa model was very much welcomed by District Level Health Facilities (DLHFs) surgical care providers. The SURG- Africa project is funded by The European Union. We are specialists, yes! We are experienced, Yes! But we have a lot to learn from the DLHF Surgical care providers, Prof. Chris Lavy, Univeristy of Oxford.

4 P A G E 4 REGIONAL DIALOGUE MEETING FOR THE ECSA GLOBAL FUND CONCEPT NOTE The Regional Dialogue Meeting for the ECSA Global Fund Regional Tuberculosis Laboratory Strengthening Project was held in

The meeting was organized by the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA- HC) in collaboration with the Uganda Supranational Reference Laboratory (USRL).

4 4 P A G E 4 REGIONAL DIALOGUE MEETING FOR THE ECSA GLOBAL FUND CONCEPT NOTE The Regional Dialogue Meeting for the ECSA Global Fund Regional Tuberculosis Laboratory Strengthening Project was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in March The meeting was organized by the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA- HC) in collaboration with the Uganda Supranational Reference Laboratory (USRL). The main objective of the meeting was to review and finalize the GF concept note focused on Strengthening the capacity of national reference laboratories to improve diagnosis and laboratory networks to deliver highquality services. The two days meeting brought together representatives from 16 of the 18 project countries who included National TB Program Managers and National TB Reference Laboratory Managers. Also represented were key collaborating and development partners and Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and these included: The Global Fund, (GF), African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), Swaziland Migrant Mine Workers Association (SWAMMIWA) and Mapambano ya Kifua Kikuu na UKIMWI Temeke (MUKIKUTE) from Tanzania. The Director of the Uganda SRL, Prof. Moses Joloba in his remarks expressed his appreciation for countries and collaboration with the project which has resulted in great strides which have led to the opportunity to apply for a second phase. Ms Samiha Raza, representing the Global Fund, informed the meeting that the Global Fund s Board endorsed ECSA-HC to continue being the principal recipient of the second phase of the grant. She emphasized for sustainability plans for the project s activities beyond the Global Fund grant period. The Director General ECSA-HC, Prof. Yoswa Dambisya, in his opening remarks appreciated the good work done by Uganda SRL and project countries that has led to the opportunity to apply for the next funding. The Director General un- derscored the critical role of countries in strengthening the diagnostic arm of the health system for detection and treatment of TB. The meeting emphasized on institutional efficiencies, maximizing effects of investments, country ownership, investing for impact and the use of data to show results. High impact interventions and recommendations from the mid-term review of the project were prioritized. The importance of country coordinating mechanisms endorsements and participation was stressed upon. Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Mpoki Ulisubisya, in his closing remarks thanked ECSA secretariat for spear heading the project. He emphasized on the capacity to diagnose TB so that proper treatment can be achieved. He expressed countries readiness to support this regional initiative because its results are tangible and asked for commitment by countries to reduce mortality rate and eliminate TB. Group photo Meeting Participants during the session Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Mpoki Ulisubisya, closing the regional dialogue meeting

5 Maseru and Ladybrand Cross Border Committee Meeting Status of Cross-Border Surveillance in the Africa Region was the key issue discussed in the meeting using One Health Approach by ensuring joint

Lesotho and South Africa by nature of being neighbors, conducted their first meeting in Ficksburg, South Africa in November 2017 where amongst the agreed plan of actions was to establish Cross-Border

5 5 Maseru and Ladybrand Cross Border Committee Meeting Status of Cross-Border Surveillance in the Africa Region was the key issue discussed in the meeting using One Health Approach by ensuring joint outbreak investigation and response in border zones at high risk of disease outbreaks. Lesotho and South Africa by nature of being neighbors, conducted their first meeting in Ficksburg, South Africa in November 2017 where amongst the agreed plan of actions was to establish Cross-Border zones. The Thabo Mofutsanyane (South Africa), Leribe (Lesotho) and Butha Buthe (Lesotho) Cross-border Zone held its follow up meeting in January 2018 at Leribe. The agreed participants of the committee are composed using the one health approach minimum. The composition of participants of the Cross-Border committee was suggested to be experts from Disease Surveillance and Laboratory; the local District commissioner or his/her appointee who will personally attend team meetings for consistency; the district focal person responsible for integrated disease surveillance and response; the district focal person responsible for laboratory services; the district medical officer of health or his appointee who will be a clinician; the district focal person responsible for environmental health; a senior health worker and member of a Hospital Management Team from the biggest health facility in the district; one focal person responsible for animal/wildlife health; one local immigration official; one local customs official; and other participants may be incorporated as per need to implement cross-border diseases surveillance activities between the two countries. In this first meeting of ML CBC, recommendations were made. The committee will implement the recommendations and ensure continuity of long and strong relationship in preventing morbidity and mortality. Improving laboratory diagnosis as well as strengthening diseases surveillance using one Health Approach will go a long way in prevention of diseases. The cross border collaboration ensures that the International Health Regulations 2005 are being implemented. Group photo of the Committee meeting Donning and Doffing demonstration for emergency preparedness East, Central & Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) P.O. Box 1009 Arusha, Tanzania Tel: /5/6 Fax: rgsec@ecsa.or.tz Website: Fostering Regional Cooperation for Better Health.

EAST, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA HEALTH COMMUNITY (ECSA-HC) Vacancy for Project Administrator

EAST, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA HEALTH COMMUNITY (ECSA-HC) Vacancy for Project Administrator The East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) invites applications for the Post of Project