The West Africa-Michigan CHARTER

in GEOHealth: The Role of ICT

Julius Fobil

GEOHealth #1 - Intro

• Hubs of Interdisciplinary Research and Training in

Global Environmental and Occupational Health (GEOHealth)

• 5 year grant

• $600K/yr of which >50% goes to LMIC Partner

• Grant awarded late September 2015

GEOHealth #2 - Intro

• North American Institutions

– University of Michigan - USA

– McGill University - Canada

• LMIC Institutions – University of Ghana - Ghana

– KNUST – Ghana

– University of Ibadan – Nigeria

– University of Abomey, Cotonou – Benin

– University of Ouagadougou – Burkina Faso

– Felix Houphoeht Boigny – Cote d’Ivoire

– Cheikh Anta Diop University - Senegal

Anglophone

Francophone

GEOHealth #3 - Intro

• Paired awards:

• U01- Research residing primarily in, and required to be under the leadership of, low and middle income country (LMIC) institution

• U2R- Research Training led by US partner, and closely linked to (and synergistic with) U01

Global: GEOHealth Hubs #1

Slide from Christine Jessup, NIH Fogarty

Global: GEOHealth Hubs #2

Slide from Christine Jessup, NIH Fogarty

Global: GEOHealth Hubs #3

Christine Jessup, NIH Fogarty

GEOHealth WA Configuration

Connecting is Key

To strengthen EOH research capacity in West Africa, we

recognize that a truly regional strategy needs to consider the

history and geopolitical landscape of the region, and thus

needs to link Francophone and Anglophone countries

- Cotonou (Feb 2014): the attendance of GEOHealth PIs at the

COPEH-WCA Mtg

- Accra (Apr 2014): 2-day GEOHealth planning meeting held in Accra,

Ghana which brought together senior scientists from five countries

from across Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin, South Africa)

- Montreal (Aug 2014): meeting of representatives of these same

countries as well as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal in Montréal to

discuss further integration of GEOHealth and Eco-Health activities in

West Africa.

- Cotonou (Mar 2015): current gathering here

Connecting is Key (cont’d)

COPEH-WCA initiative and GEOHealth mutually reinforce

each other

- COPEH-WCA has developed linkages across

Francophone countries; GEOHealth forming linkages

across Anglophone countries

- Both firmly recognize the need to overcome language

barriers to accelerate research and training

- COPEH-WCA focuses on training PhD students;

GEOHealth focused on MSc and Postdoctoral fellows

(note, we can offer postdoc opportunities as well as

English-based training opportunities)

- COPEH-WCA pursuing a multi-city (Abidjan, Cotonou,

Dakar, Ouagadougou and Senegal) urban air pollution study

in (similar site to be set-up in Accra)

Informal Sector – Unifying Theme

• EOH threats associated with the informal sector of the

economies of countries in West Africa region • Majority of workers; fast growth rate • Pervasive EOH hazards but undocumented • Since unaddressed, relatively simple solutions (e.g.,

education; technology) may exist compared to formalized sector

• Sustainable solutions will require multidisciplinary teams and consortia of partners (across sectors; countries)

AIM #1-Research Studies

Specific Aim 1A. Focuses primarily on: electronic waste

worker-health and to a lesser extent on: transportation-

related ambient air pollution and informal gold mining.

Specific Aim 1B: Execute these studies so as to assure that

they are carefully mentored, interactive participation of

trainees at various levels (post-docs, doctoral students, etc.)

from multiple complementary disciplines in all study stages

(conceptualization; design; detailed protocol; data collection,

management, and analysis; manuscript preparation, etc.).

Focused EOH Topics

-Topics lend themselves to interdisciplinarity

- lessons learned in one region inform another (scale-up

potential)

-we have strong foundation record; can leverage expertise

-relevant to science, policy, and people

-

E-Waste Activities (Primary)

-UNEP 2014 report concludes West Africa is one of

world’s most significant e-waste hubs; our work in

Accra amongst the most intense

- Project ideas for interdisciplinary teams

(students/Faculty; countries, etc) in Ghana and

elsewhere:

-life cycle assessment to characterize materials flows

-demographic health survey of outlying region

-longitudinal study of workers (injuries, exposures)

-integrated assessment to bring together scientists +

policy makers

Informal Gold Mining (ASGM)

- 2 million miners + 20 million community members

in West Africa face many EOH threats

- UNEP Minamata Convention to address now

- Focused studies in Ghana for 6 years: - 6 Ghanaian postdocs trained

- 30+ Ghanaian researchers linked across sectors

- 18 publications in a special journal issue

- Policy and response options being shared

- Exposure assessment, occupational injuries,

ecological contamination, etc.

- Expand this Integrated Assessment model

across West Africa

Transportation-related Air Pollution

- EcoHealth Chair has launched a series of urban

air pollution studies across Francophone West

African cities

- Propose to set-up a site in Accra that links and

mirrors the COPEH-AOC efforts

- Leverage great expertise at U-M and McGill in

air pollution research

Aim #2A – Training Programs

Specific Aim 2A. Strengthening of existing, and

launching of new, Masters and doctoral EOH

research training programs through a combination

of: i) sharing of existing curricula; ii) cross-country

curriculum development workshops; iii) consultation

by faculty from well-established degree programs to

new or recently launched programs.

* new MSc Program at UG; planned PhD

* ITREOH SADC experience

Aim #2B – Training Postdocs

Specific Aim 2B. Enhancing training of West African

postdoctoral fellows organized into interdisciplinary,

intercountry project teams spending 4 months on the UM

or McGill campus, followed by 6 months in WA home

countries executing research projects in the informal sector.

The months at UM/McGill will include: i) mentoring by teams

of NA and WA senior scientists; ii) courses in the responsible

conduct of research, interdisciplinary research, advanced

statistical methods, scientific writing, and use of technology

and information resources; iii) auditing courses; iv)

presentations on planned research projects.

* PARTNER GRANT

Aim #2C&D - Training

Specific Aim 2C. Implement innovations in

mentoring and team-building. A key innovation will

be WA senior scientists will reside on the

UM/McGill campus for the 1st two months the

postdoctoral teams are there.

Specific Aim 2D. Offer similar training at UM/McGill

for WA doctoral students teams.

Additional noteworthy partnerships

SOUTH-SOUTH

- academics from two universities in South Africa (UCT and

UKZN) with a rich history of regional capacity building in

EOH

- "South-South” connection is expected to be particularly

advantageous for capacity development in view of the

many similarities of challenges in these two SSA regions

McGill / Montreal

- Montreal is bilingual city with 4 universities; McGill has

long record of collaboration across West Africa,

particularly in EOH

- UQAM (Johanne Saint-Charles & COPEH-Canada)

- Can provide bilingual training opportunities

GEOHealth Africa – Specific Topics

REFLECTIONS ON BUILDING SUSTAINABLE PARTNERSHIPS FOR REGIONAL HUBS IN

GEOHEALTH

• Key areas needing consideration

• Trust

• New “culture”

• Capacity Strengthening

• Ensuring Longevity

Partnership Formation

• Trust is the KEY to success; requires time and ongoing interactions

OUR EXPERIENCES:

• Build upon almost 20 years of continuous NIH funded OEH research and capacity building in SSA

• Practice regional strategy for strengthening OEH

• Building upon depth, strength, long-standing ties and trust of institutions involved (Ghana: U-G, MOH, KNUST; Regional: Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali)

• International: Michigan, McGill, Denmark, Germany

Trust

• Development of Charter which all parties agree upon

Trust

• How to ensure a critical mass of OEH researchers in-country/region? Brain-drain?

OUR EXPERIENCES:

• Promote confidence and visibility of South partners to lead and drive the work

• OEH in SADC & in Ghana set the stage

• PARTNER I and II grants (29 postdocs; 6 OEH-focused postdocs; senior mentors)

• ASGM (25+ in-country researchers) – mature

• e-Wastes research activities (5+ faculty) - seedling

New “Culture”

Electronic Health Information and Surveillance System - eHISS

Concept & Pilot:

Establishment of a mobile-phone based electronic Health Information and Surveillance System (eHISS) in sub-Saharan Africa.

Other Projects

To provide tailor-made health information for sick individuals after answering several sequential questions through an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system.

The Unique Role of ICT

• In resource-poor settings, ICT can provide life-

saving health information (WHO, 2011, 2012).

• With appropriately designed electronic health (eHealth) systems, even unprivileged and illiterate individuals can obtain valuable actual information on prevention/treatment of acute diseases (Brinkel et al., 2014).

• However, most eHealth techniques are unidirectional and available to health-care workers only (Brinkel et al., 2014).

GEOHealth West Africa Team

Thank you for your attention

Contact: jfobil@ug.edu.gh