The West African Health Organisation (WAHO) is set to hold meetings of the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement Project, REDISSE, in Lagos, Nigeria from Monday, October 15 to Friday, October 19, 2018.
REDISSE is a Regional project funded by the World Bank, which covers all 15 ECOWAS countries and Mauritania, in five-year phases from 2016 to 2023.
It is coordinated at the regional level by the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) under the leadership of Prof Stanley Okolo.
The first phase covers three countries, namely Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone, the second phase four countries, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Togo, and the third phase four countries, Benin, Mali, Niger and Mauritania.A fourth phase which is in the works could cover Burkina Faso, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Cape-Verde.
On October 18, the 3rd Regional Steering Committee Meeting will hold to assess the progress made in the implementation of the REDISSE project and make recommendations with a view to fast-tracking its implementation and attaining the Project’s objectives.
The series of meetings will also feature REDISSE implementing partners and agencies joint planning meeting billed to hold on October 19. It aims to aid the effective implementation of the project through collaborative and harmonized planning of project interventions, both at regional and country levels.
It will be attended by about 20 people – WAHO (six persons): the Director General (DG), the Director of Health Planning and Information (DHPI), the Director of Public Health and Research (DPHR), the Planning Professional, the General Coordinator of the PMU and the financial management specialist, of the REDISSE project.
Also expected to attend are 14 other participants: 5 Representatives of the World Bank, 2 representatives of WHO, 1 Representative of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), 1 Representative of FAO, 1 representative of CCISD, 1 Representative of FondationMérieux, 1 representative of RAHC, 1 representative of the University of Ghana (FELTP) and 1 representative of the University of Ouagadougou (FELTP).
A two-day meeting of technical sub-committee of the REDISSE project will herald the meetings.
REDISSE aims at national and regional inter-sector capacity building for collaborative disease surveillance and preparedness for epidemics in West Africa by overcoming the weaknesses of the human and animal health systems which hinder efficient surveillance of diseases and response, and in case of emergency, provide immediate effective response to the said emergency.
The Project has five (05) components: C1: Health Information Surveillance; C2: Laboratory Capacity Building; C3: Preparedness and Emergency Response; C4: C4: HRM for effective disease surveillance and preparedness for epidemics; and C5: Institutional capacity building, Project management, Coordination and Advocacy.
