TDDA Chad’s highlights, April – June
Supporting community representatives and government to work together
Our civil society capacity-building programme stands out within our work in Chad this quarter (April – June 2022). A team from TDDA-trained civil society organizations (CSOs) took part in their first mission to monitor progress against the National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS). This exercise was carried out alongside the human, animal and environmental health ministries and showcases tangible collaboration between government and civil society following TDDA’s efforts to foster closer ties between them. It also reflects the health security expertise gained by CSO personnel and is part of our work to ensure that the progress we have made is sustainable beyond the close of the TDDA programme at end November 2022.
Gender, equity and social inclusion focus in renewed health security plans
Chad’s NAPHS expired in December 2021, leaving no framework to guide health security actions. In June 2022, we provided technical and financial support to an exercise to validate an 18-month extension of the NAPHS. The exercise involved staff from all health security-related ministries (including Public Health, Livestock, Environment, Agriculture and National Defence), as well as CSOs. An equity focus is now embedded in this extension plan, which will help ensure the health needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized communities are a key consideration.
Strengthening border procedures for dealing with sick travellers
We provided technical and financial support to Chad’s Ministry of Public Health to conduct a table-top simulation exercise (June 2022) designed to test and improve the management of epidemiological surveillance data and reporting at national borders. The training helped to identify gaps in preparedness measures and will lead to better-coordinated responses when cases of disease are detected in people arriving at border entry points.
Better data means faster responses when health events are discovered
We recently supported the development of Community-Based Surveillance systems in the poorly performing health district of Guélendeng, as a pilot to improve the timeliness with which public health events are reported. Twelve heads of urban and rural health centres in the district were trained during a workshop held in May 2022. The learnings gleaned from this training will mean the health centre leaders are better able to supervise community health workers in charge of reporting cases. This will, in turn, ensure decision-makers have the data they need to mount effective and timely responses so that outbreaks do not escalate.