Integration and Capacity Building with BIMCP II

MCDI visit to training site in Mexico. In preparation for the training of the newly recruited officers, the outgoing and the incoming Deputy Project Managers visited the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública in México (INSP-México). The visit allowed MCDI to meet the INSP team, and visit both their training site in Cuernavaca and the site that will eventually be used for the student’s field work. The principal outcomes of the visit included:

• Review of student housing options and preliminary discussions on safety, health insurance and life insurance provisions, issues pertaining to the students’ general wellbeing (mentoring, cultural exchange, and sports), rules and responsibilities, and exposure to ample and practical field experiences.
• Finalization of pending operational issues prior to MCDI’s signature of the contract with the INSP-México.
• Assessment of classrooms, conference-rooms, libraries, laboratories; computer/internet facilities, cafeterias, sport facilities via visits to the INSP -México campuses in Cuernavaca and Mexico City.
• Visits to field sites where project activities will take place to become familiar with the situation on the ground.
• Information exchange on the planned visit by a team from the INSP to Equatorial Guinea.

Between August 9 and 15 2010, three lecturers from the INSP-México, Dr. Angel Francisco Betanzos Reyes (Lecturer-Program Coordinador), Dr. Armando Ulloa García (Lecturer, Entomology) and Dr. Jorge F. Méndez Galván (Lecturer-Researcher ), visited Equatorial Guinea. Some of the highlights of their visit included:

• An assessment of the local context via meetings, interviews and field observations including visits to hospitals, health centers and communities.

 

l-r: Jorge F. Mendez-Galvan, Denise L Harrison, Angel Francisco Betanzos Reyes, Leonor Ada, Armando Ulloa Garcia , Dr. Gloria Nseng, Victor Mba, Maria-Cecelia Engono, Raul Nguema, Dr. Martin Eka, Javier Nve

• Information exchange with MCDI program staffs from the BIMCP and the EGMCI on the Continent.
• Interviews with the 8 new NMCP personnel (students) and with MSBS authorities.
• Analysis of multiple documents, publications and data provided by MCDI and by the Director of the NMCP.

New NMCP officers visit MCDI offices in Silver Spring en route to Mexico. The eight new NMCP officers travelled to Silver Spring MD and Washington DC on August 30, 2010 for an intensive one week orientation prior to traveling on to Cuernavaca, Mexico. During this week the students visited the Marathon and MCDI Headquarters, the Embasssy of Equatorial Guinea, the Consulate of Mexico and the Capitol Hill office of US Senator from the State of Maine, Olyimpia Snowe. Following these initial visits MCDI organized a series of malaria-specific visits to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the President’s Malaria Initiative/USAID offices. In addition, the orientation program included a tour of historic sites in Washington. Highlights of the visits included:

• A memorable welcoming dinner hosted by Dr. Adel Chaouch, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for Marathon Oil. The relevance of the training and the high expectations the country has for the trainees on their return to EG were underlined.
• A meeting with Her Excellency the Ambassador of EG in Washington, Ms. Purificacion Angue Ondo, to explain the seriousness of their training visit to Mexico and to ratify the student’s commitment to the Program through the signature of an agreement between the Ambassador and the students.
• A visit to Senator Snow’s office to expose the group from EG to the US Senate and the interest it has in global health, sharing with the Senator’s staff information about the BIMCP and the role that a Maine organization (MCD) plays in its success, and highlighting the support that MCDI gets from Marathon Oil in support of the project.

L-r: Martin Eka Ondo Mangue, Pablo Aguilar Alcalá, Javier Nve Adjaba E., Magdalena Serpa, Victor Mba Micha A., Raul Nguema Nkogo O., Excm. Purificación Angue O. Embajadora de GE en EUA , Teodosia Evuna Ayetebe, Maria C. Engono Nguema, Epifanio Bula Malest, Leonor Ada Okenve, Chris Schwabe, Adel Chaouch, Joseph Carter

• A presentations on the history, achievements and plans for the future of BIMCP I and II, with emphasis in the integration plan/empowerment of NMCP to manage and implement interventions and activities that are now being managed with extensive external technical assistance provided by the BIMCP.
• Presentations on the plans for training in Mexico including on the context, objectives; performance expectations, performance monitoring, communications, code of conduct, and the implications of not following rules, or maintaining an acceptable level of academic performance.
• Visit to PAHO and to USAID’s President’s Malaria Initiative to familiarize the students with the history and current state of malaria control in the Americas and Africa.

New NMCP officers travel to Mexico. The eight new NMCP officers travelled to Mexico on September 4 accompanied by Dr. Serpa, the BIMCP Deputy Program Manager. After settling into their housing and meeting the staffs of the INSP, they began classes on September 6. The first 3 months of the program will focus on general knowledge pertaining to public health and malaria control. This will be based on course work in Cuernavaca and Mexico City and short field visits.

Special focus on health, safety and security. MCDI has worked with the INSP and Marathon Oil to ensure that the health, safety and security concerns of the students is fully addressed. Each student has been enrolled in a private health insurance scheme that is being financed by the BIMCP and a detailed safety and security protocol and procedures have been put in place and reviewed with the students. Periodic reinforcement of these guidelines will be undertaken with the students as a preventive measure. Special arrangements have also been made for visits outside Cuernavaca in order to ensure that the safety and security of the students is assured. These procedures have been reviewed and approved by Marathon and the INSP.