National Technical Working Group on STI Control launched in Sudan
The
National Technical Working Group (TWG) for Prevention & Control of
Sexually Transmitted Infections was launched on 23 September 2010 at
Burj Al Fateh Hotel in Khartoum, Sudan. More than 20 people attended the
meeting including program managers from the Federal Ministry of Health,
consultants, public health officers & UN staff members.
The National TWG was established under the auspices of the
Undersecretary of the Federal Ministry of Health Dr Kamal Abdulgadir,
the Sudan National AIDS Program (SNAP) supported by the World Health
Organization (WHO) Representative’s Office in Sudan.
During the opening ceremony, Dr Eihab Ali Hassan, Director of SNAP,
reiterated the importance of STI prevention & control in addressing the
challenges of emerging HIV/AIDS in Sudan. Dr Endalamaw Aberra Tegegne,
HIV team leader in WHO, reaffirmed the commitment of WHO in working
closely with SNAP and all other collaborating partners to strengthen
this activity in the Sudan.
The
TWG endorsed the draft Terms of Reference & developed a plan of action
based on priority areas for 2010 and 2011. The group recommended
updating the national guidelines as the first task.
Dr Mustafa Elneimeiri, Associate
Professor & Consultant of Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology at the
Africa University, was elected as the chairperson of the National TWG on
STI control.
Other
photos (click to enlarge)
Advanced
training course on HIV/AIDS care and treatment held in Sudan
Thirty
one (31) senior physicians and pediatricians from Khartoum and different
states of Sudan attended the 4-day advanced training course on HIV/AIDS
care and treatment.
The WHO Country Office in Sudan in collaboration
with the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) of Antwerp,
Belgium organized the training course in Khartoum which was facilitated
by highly qualified experts from the institute and Sudan.
ART in Sudan
The
anti-retroviral therapy (ART) programme in Sudan started in 2002 with
two centers in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city. Sudan used the Integrated
Management of Adult and Adolescence Illnesses (IMAI) model for rapid
scale up of the ART program. It is a simplified approach for scaling up
on ART services and the only training program available in the country.
Several training sessions have been conducted in the country, currently
there are 32 functional ART centers distributed to cover 15 states of
Sudan.
The involvement of health care providers in
management of HIV patients in Sudan is limited to the medical doctors
who are trained in IMAI. Most of the senior physicians are not actively
participating in the ART program. This has created a gap in the normal
role of senior physicians in clinical care: i.e. providing mentorship to
junior doctors.
In addition, senior physicians are not actively
participating
in the development and update of national clinical guidelines, a fact
which affects the practical implementation of those guidelines.
After identifying the gaps in HIV/AIDS care and
treatment, WHO conducted the advanced training course on HIV/AIDS care
and treatment for medical practitioners in North Sudan. The course was
designed to update participants’ technical knowledge on HIV/AIDS and to
create a forum for exchange of experience between clinicians.
Programme
Participants
The Initiative for Acceleration of HIV
Prevention in Africa launched on 11 April 2006
The "Year of Acceleration of HIV
prevention in the Africa Region" was officially launched by the
African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The launch
took place with simultaneous satellite events in Khartoum, Sudan;
Dakar, Senegal; and Pretoria, South Africa.
Since the 1980s, 22 million people in Africa have died from HIV and
over 50 million people have been infected. Nearly half of new
infections occur among children and youth between the ages of 15 and
24.
Khartoum was designated to represent North Africa for the official
launch event in of the Year of Acceleration of HIV prevention in
Africa
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The events of Khartoum were celebrated simultaneously with other
countries by satellite link. There were some dancing and
singing and the audience could listen via satellite link to events
in Ethiopia, Senegal, South Africa. The Federal Minister of
Health, Ms Tabitha Shokaya together with the Deputy Special
Representative of the Secretary General of the United (photo left)
listening to key note addresses from other region in Africa.
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