Training and Capacity Building

Author: Marian Kasekete (ACACIA researcher, Paediatrician, University of Zimbabwe)

12/06/2023

I am Dr. Marian Kasekete, paediatrician and ACACIA researcher in Zimbabwe. In the following paragraphs I will introduce you to the training and capacity building that we have undertaken across ACACIA's African sites.

Capacity training of the teams

At the start of ACACIA the research teams received both practical and theoretical training from Education for Health Africa in spirometry. This training was expanded to include other medical cadres at the various institutions where the study occurred namely paediatricians, physiotherapists, nurses and postgraduate students. A total of over 100 people were trained at sites in Zimbabwe (see photo), Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda. One of the technicians who received Spirometry training in Uganda is currently supporting the Pulmonary Functioning Laboratory at the Lung Institute Clinic to conduct Spirometry tests for patients.

Some teams organised asthma workshops which taught about asthma diagnosis, management and emergency care to a variety of audiences, such as nurses, or teachers. Several support and mentoring activities were carried out and there's for example an ongoing mentoring WhatsApp group for nurses in Zimbabwe which was formed after a nurse’s workshop.

 

Highlights

ACACIA has an Early Career Researchers’ (ECR) group of young researchers who are being mentored to improve their skills in research. The group was able to attend online courses and are part of a global journal club, this has helped improve their skills in appraising publications and grant writing. The group will continue after ACACIA.

Another achievement was the online training about air pollution sources and effects for staff with mostly medical backgrounds. A practical use and handling of the air pollution backpack was followed by a physical training for peak flow practice, and how to record data from the device to the system for analysis.

Overall, the staff benefited from training, research experience, and scientific outputs, media engagement and public speaking. In our Zimbabwe team a newly trained Paediatrician on their team is being mentored to become a Paediatric Pulmonologist. In our South African team, an administrative support staff member was included in training of NVivo software, qualitative data analysis and manuscript writing and completed her Masters.

All involved personnel and carers have been positively influenced by this study.

 

Collaborations

The 7 countries involved have created a platform for collaboration and planning for future projects with this network has been established.

 

Capacity Strengthening of the institutions

ACACIA positively influenced the research reputation of all involved institutions, and established or strengthened certain areas of this research. At Queen Mary University in the UK, ACACIA strengthened the university’s portfolio of Global Health and work in Africa in particular. At the Makerere Lung Institute in Uganda, ACACIA is one of the few research projects focused on schools including data collection and public engagement. The institute has benefitted through lessons learnt in working with schools and gained a deeper understanding of research in schools. This will help future school-based research activities. At the University of Zimbabwe, the ACACIA team is advocating for screening of non-communicable diseases generally and asthma, in particular, helping to shift the focus from infectious to non-infectious conditions at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and for the institute’s policy advocacy. At the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institution, Tanzania, the project has resulted in integration with the local government, and ultimately the effects of air pollution exposure will be scaled up nationally. At Lagos State University, advocacy has led to the State Ministry of Health accepting to integrate asthma into the school health programme. This strengthened the institute’s reputation as a force to improve health policy. The Ghanaian team at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology established links with all trainees to share information and experiences in asthma care and support, and also for collaboration in asthma research. At the Malawi-Liverpool Welcome Trust in Malawi a former intern enrolled and studied at the local university for a Masters in Global Health with focus on Health policy, funded by the NIHR as part of ACACIA.