NiCaDe II

Duration: 2023 - 2025

Partner country: Nigeria

Partner institution: Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Nigeria

Involved RKI units: Unit 15, Unit 37, ZIG Office, Research Coordination

Latest updates: RKI and Nigerian counterpart present novel training approach for infection prevention and control

NCDC and RKI NiCaDe project team. Source: RKI

Challenges addressed by the project

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and RKI have been working together in global health security for more than a decade. This project aims to support NCDC’s mandate to prevent, detect and control infectious diseases of public health importance. It consists of four sub-projects which NCDC identified as crucial for strengthening national public health capacity and thereby contributes to pandemic preparedness capacity globally.

Objectives

Hepatitis/Rotavirus (HEP/RVA)

Subproject 1, based on the initial Phase I activities, aims to establish a now sustainably expanded nationwide intensified molecular surveillance of highly infectious viral hepatitis (B, C, E) and rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVA). This involves training of junior scientists and sentinel site teams, risk assessment and molecular characterization of circulating strains, to provide a scientific basis for policy decisions.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

Subproject 2 aims to continue to support national activities to prevent and control AMR. From 2019-2022, NCDC and RKI piloted an innovative diagnostic/ antimicrobial stewardship approach to improve the underutilization of blood culture diagnostics in health facilities. The project will scale-up this pilot, include new activities to build the capacity of the National AMR Reference Laboratory based on gaps identified in the pilot, and investigate local antimicrobial use to inform policy decisions.

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)

In phase I, the project team developed and piloted a novel training approach “Participatory Approach to Learning in Systems (PALS)” for IPC improvement in Nigeria. “PALS” is a training and practice approach that enables and empowers health care workers and organizations to employ multimodal strategies for IPC improvement in the local context. Based on this successful experience, Subproject 3 aims to consolidate Nigeria’s capacity to apply “PALS” and integrate it in the national IPC programme.

Research Governance Capacity (RGC)

Subproject 4 aims to strengthen research governance at the institutional level to increase the ability of NCDC to undertake high-quality public health research, thereby providing improved evidence for public health decision making at the local, regional, national and international level.

Overview of activities

HEP/RVA project activities include the consolidation of phase I surveillance, expansion to geopolitical zones not initially covered by the surveillance, expansion of the testing capacity at the sentinel sites and the national reference laboratory (NRL) to include diagnosis and characterization of HBV and HCV, maintenance of the testing capacity at the sentinel sites and the NRL, performing surveillance at medically underserved populations, maintaining and monitoring an information management system, and analysis and publication of data.

AMR project activities include the scale-up of the diagnostic stewardship strategy from the “model” hospital to hospitals in different zones, building capacity at the AMR National Reference Laboratory to support microbiology expertise according to gaps identified in the pilot, and a pilot assessment of antimicrobial consumption in the community and hospital pharmacies in the neighboring communities of selected facilities.

IPC project activities: to sustain the PALS training program for IPC improvement, and to transfer the application of PALS to other settings relevant for IPC, we will train “PALS-Multiplicators” and conduct PALS projects with different stakeholders. A network of PALS practitioners in Nigeria will be created. All activities support the integration of PALS into the national IPC program.

RGC project activities include establishing a Scientific Research Board (internal) and Scientific Advisory Committee (external), facilitating institutional research management and coordination by sharing best practices, supporting the development of guidelines and regulations, supporting monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of research projects at NCDC, and improving capacity for research grant applications.

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