BUJUMBURA April 19th (ABP) – The National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in collaboration with the Center for Innovation in Education and Training (CINOP) and the three universities in Burundi which has a faculty medicine, in particular the University of Burundi, Hope of Africa University and the University of Ngozi, organized the certificate award and closing ceremonies for the OKP/TMT+21/00014 project, of Dutch cooperation, in support of the ‘INSP and the three faculties of medicine in Burundi entitled “Development of capacities in field epidemiology against Covid-19 and support for the reform of the medical program in Burundi”.
The director general of the INSP, Dr. Joseph Nyandwi, said that the main objective of this project was to contribute to the strengthening of the Burundian health system as a whole. He placed a particular focus on helping the INSP to enrich its training offer, to take into account health emergencies such as Covid -19, and the three faculties of medicine in Burundi to implement e- learning in order to be able to preserve the continuity of academic activities in the event of pandemics. He also supported the three faculties of medicine in Burundi to pilot the COBES component (Community – Based Education and Services) for the training of the “new Burundian doctor” able to promote SDSR (health of sexual and reproductive development) and gender to serve effectively communities throughout the territory”.
The DG of the INSP has indeed explained that the Covid 19 pandemic has shown that distance learning and working are possible. But also, given the massification of students and the scarcity of teachers, e-learning is a solution for the continuity of academic activities, without falling behind on the schedule of activities.
Dr. Nyadwi, further pointed out that this project has achieved its objectives through the results, namely the contribution to training in field epidemiology – 1st line (PFET-Front Line), assistance to COBES training (Community -Based Education and Service), the implementation of e-learning with a studio called Studio Rapid Mooc, was acquired and installed at the INSP as well as the training on Virtual Reality of the students and teachers of the three faculties of medicine on the promotion of sexual and reproductive health development (SRHR).
Finally, he thanked the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which continues to support the university training of the medical faculties of Burundi and the INSP in capacity building and to contribute to the monitoring of epidemics, including Covid 19, through its contribution to training in field epidemiology.
The representative of CINOP, Mr. Quindinda Nikièna, specified that the center for the innovation of education and training is a Dutch firm of expertise and support advice in vocational training.
In collaboration with the University of Maastricht, they played the role of supporting the Burundian promoters of the project in its implementation.
This project, he added, was born from the desire to strengthen the capacities of Burundi’s health system and in particular in its fight against health crises such as that linked to Covid +19, by improving the offer. training, in order to help the country to be able to have the competent human resources required in field epidemiology, to fight against the pandemic, but also against future health emergencies that will arise, he underlined.
According to Éric Manirakiza, one of the winners who participated in distance training, in pedagogical engineering in e-learning, thanked the partners of this project because it helped them to acquire new teaching techniques to be able to help learners who have not participated in class during the pandemic, by creating videos that can be viewed on YouTube.
Note that this OKP/TMT+21/00014 project was officially launched in Burundi for the period from April 1, 2021 to March 30, 2023 with funding from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the tune of 1,300,000 Euros.