Ecobank Launches Second Year Of Partnership To Tackle HIV, Tuberculosis And Malaria In Africa

The Ecobank Foundation, along with two of its partners, the West African College of Physicians and the Royal College of Physicians (London) has launched the on September 7th, 2015 the second year of a strategic partnership to reduce the impact of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

The Millennium Development Goal 6 Partnership for African Clinical Training, also known by the acronym ‘M-PACT,’ is a three-year project sponsored by the Ecobank Foundation, aimed at building local capacity to tackle HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

In the first year of the partnership, the project delivered three clinical training courses, one each in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal.

The project trained 94 doctors in total, while two ‘Doctors as Educators’ courses were organised in Ibadan and Accra, aimed at raising the skills of local trainers.

The second year of the overall programme began with the first course of Year 2 starting off in Ibadan, Nigeria and will be followed by similar courses in Dakar, Accra and Abuja.

The programme has enabled doctors in the region to become better equipped to prevent, diagnose, treat and manage the challenging conditions of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

The course also features leadership training for outbreak investigations, given the Ebola crisis that gripped parts of West Africa in the earlier part of 2015.

Senior faculty of the West African College of Physicians deliver the courses in collaboration with UK-based consultant volunteers from the Royal College of Physicians.

Dr Braimah Baba Abubakari, clinical course participant in Accra, has seen improvements in his practice, reporting: “My index of suspicion of TB, HIV cases has gone up and more cases have been diagnosed and are receiving treatment, especially those with co-infection. The incidence of malaria diagnosis on the other hand is reduced because I screen before treatment.”

Reflecting on the training collaboration thus far, the Secretary General of the West African College of Physicians Dr Clement Ezechukwu remarked: “We are delighted to have the Ecobank Foundation as a partner in this most worthy venture of investing in the health of people of the sub-region.”

A further 210 doctors will receive training in this second year of the programme.

By Year 3, the project is expected to have reached more than 600 doctors, most of whom have teaching or supervisory responsibilities.

The Ecobank Foundation is the primary corporate social responsibility arm of the Ecobank Group, financing social projects in Africa.

The Foundation’s main focus is to give back or contribute effectively towards the society in which Ecobank operates.

Ecobank sets aside up to 1% of the group’s profits, after tax, to support project initiatives of the Foundation.

Ecobank is the leading pan-African bank with operations in 36 countries across the continent.

It started operations in Tanzania in January 2010 and has since grown to include 9 branches across the country.