Country Landscape and MTaPS’ Support
On March 9, 2020, Burkina Faso confirmed its first COVID-19 case. The country’s experience with highly pathogenic avian influenza meant it was better prepared to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, health facilities were not equipped to handle the sudden influx of COVID-19 patients. USAID MTaPS supported the Ministry of Health to accelerate health care workers’ training on infection prevention and control (IPC), biomedical waste management (BWM), and the use of personal protective equipment. Facilitating collaboration among the different stakeholders in the country was also one of MTaPS’ first steps, needed for a successful pandemic response.
MTaPS is assisting the country by supporting the Directorate for Prevention by Vaccination (DPV) in developing COVID-19 vaccination micro plans at the regional and district levels and training health workers on vaccines deployment through vaccination campaigns as well as on surveilling adverse events following immunization (AEFIs).
Indicators as of September 2023
888
Number of health workers who received COVID-19-related training in IPC and/or BWM
62
Number of health facilities supported for IPC and/or BWM for COVID-19
585
Number of people trained on COVID-19 vaccine-related topics with MTaPS support
Select Highlights
Infection Prevention and Control
- Developed COVID-19 IPC and BWM training packages, standard operating procedures, guidelines, and job aids and—in collaboration with the government, partners, and the private sector—rapidly trained health workers, lab and other staff, and Red Cross volunteers, along with training 25 master trainers to cascade the skills to many more health personnel
- Supported the launch of an IPC e-learning platform in collaboration with the Ministry of Health’s Directorate of Health Information Systems to provide free access to IPC training for all health workers and to promote continuous IPC refresher training for health workers
- Performed initial rapid IPC assessments of case management sites and sensitized more than a thousand staff members at university hospital centers and clinics with targeted packages of IPC training materials, standard operating procedures, and checklists
- Conducted regular monitoring and repeat IPC and BWM assessments at supported health facilities using the WHO scorecard tool and trained staff to bridge the gaps while mentoring them to establish compliance monitoring systems for continuous quality improvement—all 15 health care facilities assessed post-training showed improved IPC and BWM practices
Demonstration on hand hygiene at the Bittou Medical Center
Photo credit: Kaboré Benoit
COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment
- Supported the DPV in the development of micro plans related to the implementation and management of COVID-19 vaccination activities at the regional and district level and their dissemination through workshops to 368 stakeholders
- Built the capacities of 44 stakeholders from 11 health districts to support mass vaccination activities designed to vaccinate 10% of the population by the end of 2021—the training included technical areas such as pharmacovigilance and the surveillance of AEFIs; waste, supply chain, vaccines, and data management; and the implementation of a communications strategy
- Trained staff to use a digital data collection system designed to improve the registering of vaccinated people and monitoring AEFIs—the 6-day training for two health districts enabled 4,278 people to be registered
Group photo of people involved in vaccination activities participating in a training in the Dedougou zone. Photo credit: Yao Soungalo
Partners include:
- Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene
- Directorate for Prevention by Vaccination
- Directorate of Health Information Systems
- WHO
- Red Cross
