![]() From the beginning, we began to understand the technological challenges that could significantly impact our project. It is not a surprise that coordinating a research project involving partners based in different countries has its challenges. INFRASTRUCTURAL CHALLENGES POSING A MAJOR IMPEDIMENT TO INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS ![]() The tall building pictured is the University campanile that chimes at the turn of every hour, a sound heard across the campus and has become part of our tradition. Image: Aerial photo of Kenyatta University (KU) Main campus spread across 1000 acres and located 16 kilometers from Kenya’s capital city Nairobi. For KU, this project has meant moving away from the existing emphasis on traditional education to designing an IPC curriculum that responds to our population through careful consideration of the exact competencies needed to tackle existing challenges and the ideal teaching approaches suitable for promoting these competencies amongst learners. This tool will be used to develop feedback that will act as a blueprint for improvements in these areas, an approach that we hope other academic institutions adopt to improve student learning. We began with developing a valid and reliable tool that would allow us to objectively evaluate curricula, their design, and implementation from both institutions. This partnership was an ideal opportunity to tap into the wealth of collective knowledge and experience among members of this project team. ![]() The curriculum will also address factors that contribute to infectious disease transmission and outbreaks and promote research.Īt the start of the CoLab, KU entered a newly established partnership with Valley View University (VVU) in Ghana, who also submitted a proposal expressing interest in curriculum design and implementation. Following the grant award in 2019, we eagerly began designing a curriculum aimed at enhancing IPC competencies within the country. Our intention is to develop a post-graduate course in infection prevention and control (IPC) that will produce a trans-disciplinary team of professionals well-equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to address infectious diseases.Ĭonsequently, when we came across the Sustaining Technical and Analytic Resources (STAR) Collaboration Laboratory (CoLab), we were excited about the prospect of garnering support towards our objective, which aligned well with STAR’s goal of strengthening the capacity of global health professionals and academic institutions. With this in mind, Kenyatta University (KU) began mobilizing efforts to address these issues. In Kenya, the health landscape has been dominated by infectious diseases for a long time, with gaps in human resources, medical supplies, and health data systems undermining our ability to tackle the country’s infectious disease burden. Image: KU exercise on importance of handwashing and hygiene in the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.Īt a time when deadly infectious diseases continue to emerge and re-emerge, the need for public health systems, is increasingly critical, working alongside medical interventions, to prevent, detect, and respond.
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