Strengthening Capacity to Manage and Cope with Pandemics in Ethiopia and Tanzania (SCCOPET) project addresses a combination of Covid-19 related challenges via exchange and strengthening of capacities and facilities in the areas of research, education, and outreach. Partner institutions involved include KCMUCo in Tanzania, SUZA in Zanzibar, and UCPH and DTU in Denmark, who have partnered under the BSU programme for several years. New partners include JU in Ethiopia and their longstanding partner UiO. The partners will interact in different south-south and south-north constellations to support and complement each other. THE Project Lead IS KCMUCo and UCPH north co-lead. The  started Dec. 2022  and ending  April 2025. 

The overall objective of SCCOPET is to strengthen sustainable health care delivery in settings marked by the impact of Covid-19, recurrent natural hazards intensified by climate change, and in some places also internal conflict and displacement. The target groups include university students and staff, frontline health care workers/professionals (FHCW/Ps), patients, and the general population.

The project comprises four work packages (WP1-4) each involving an education, research and outreach component. WP1 and WP2 will focus on developing capacities related to Covid-19 disease surveillance, diagnostic capacity and vaccination programme delivery; WP3 will support mental health among frontline health care workers and professionals (FHCW/Ps) engaged in disease surveillance and vaccine delivery; the final, crosscutting WP4 will develop online and blended learning resources related to the topics of the three other WPs for integration into relevant curricula mainly at the partner institutions. WP4 will also facilitate dissemination of resources and project findings and lead outreach activities to relevant external stakeholders.

WP1 Strengthening molecular laboratory capacity at KCMUCo, SUZA and JU in support of (Covid-19) diagnostics and disease surveillance (Lead: KCMUCo in collaboration with UCPH/DTU)

In support of government efforts for timely response and communication WP1 aims to strengthen laboratory facilities to perform diagnostics and surveillance of infectious diseases and to further enhance research capacities with a particular focus on Covid-19.

WP2 Strengthening capacity to implement effective (Covid-19) vaccination programmes through training and research at KCMUCo, SUZA and JU as well as targeting national vaccination programmes managers (Lead: JU in collaboration with UCPH and UiO – subcontractor)

Focus in WP2 on the development of analytical and management capacity in support of the rollout of

Covid-19 and other vaccines through the training of lecturers at the partner universities and key Ministry of Health programme staff as well as the implementation of studies to inform future vaccine programming.

Focused quantitative and qualitative studies, based upon a common protocol, undertaken in selected districts of Tanzania, Zanzibar and Ethiopia on system and community level barriers and facilitators to vaccination uptake, including vaccine hesitancy, vaccine logistics and management, and community barriers to vaccine access. The findings and the information from the study will be shared for uptake across implementing partners including programme managers and FHCW/Ps.

WP3 Supporting mental health among FHCW/P’s via strengthened capacity to adapt and integrate learning resources into relevant curricula (Lead: JU in collaboration with UCPH and UiO – subcontractor)

WP3 aim to promote psychological well-being and self-care among FHCW/Ps at all levels of the health care delivery system. The Covid-19 pandemic has exemplified the critical nature of the mental health of our healthcare workers. WP 3 will conduct desk reviews and research to better understand the needs and preferences regarding well-being, safety, and self-care among FHCW/Ps, and to map existing resources. Informed by the local context and evidence, we will select, adapt and integrate resources into relevant curricula for health science students and for FHCW/Ps. 

WP4 Strengthening the capacity to design and develop online and blended education at KCMUCo, SUZA and JU and to disseminate learning resources to relevant external stakeholders (Lead: SUZA in collaboration with UCPH)

WP4 support the exchange of experiences and increase the capacity to develop and integrate digital resources and modules into the curricula at the partner universities in Tanzania, Zanzibar and Ethiopia namely in courses related to WP1, WP2 and WP3 topics. Focus will be on hands-on training, co-creation and support to course responsible. Activities areå directed at course design, identification of the best pedagogic approaches, content production, locating Open Educational Resources (OER), quality assurance of resources, resource adaptation and the integration of resources into learning management platforms including open online repositories. Secondly, the WP will aim to strengthen the capacity of digital and e-learning support centres at the partner institutions including the production of digital resources and transformation of educational programmes towards greater use of digital resources and further outreach. Thirdly WP4 will facilitate training on the dissemination of resources and project findings and lead outreach activities to relevant external stakeholders. Finally a research study on the implementation and use of OBL learning resources and courses will be conducted.

BSU – SUZA

Lead
Hamad Issa, Professor
ha_2@yahoo.com

DK co-lead
Karin Linda Schiøler, Associate Professor
ksch@sund.ku.dk