In Rwanda, the incidence unexpectedly rose sharply again in June 2021 and reached a plateau of 700-950 new cases / day with a presumably high number of unreported cases. The main challenges in the country are the long distances that patients have to cover in rural regions in order to…
It was the first large face-to-face training of the department Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG) in an international setting since the start of the pandemic and carried out in compliance with a strict hygiene concept. The training course was implemented by the team of the EMT National Focal Point…
The latest Ebola outbreak in the DRC was announced on 11 May 2017. With only eight cases, the chain of infection could be quickly interrupted and was confined to the remote ‘Likati Health Zone’ in the province of Bas-Uélé in the northeast of the DRC. The outbreak was declared over…
During a six weeks-stay (30 January – 15 March 2021), Paul Pitzinger from RKI (P3) visited the partner sites in both Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. One aim of the visit was to support our partners in SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics in particular technical support in serological SARS-CoV-2 analyses. Another aim…
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) face various challenges: NITAGs normally develop recommendations based on a broad body of evidence. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence needed to develop recommendations e.g. on risk factors for severe and fatal courses or effects of COVID-19 variants on…
During the visit of the RKI PASQUALE members, workshops on hand hygiene training for health personnel were led by a national expert in infection prevention and control (IPC), Ms Cissé. She sensitised health workers to the fundamental importance of infection prevention and hand hygiene in health care. The workshops trained…
The COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. A cornerstone of successful containment is rapid and reliable diagnostics. The intensified molecular surveillance of hepatitis and rotavirus infections with a network of sentinel sites distributed across Nigeria can serve as the basis for a rapidly available, functioning surveillance system…
Background The RKI, together with the World Health Organization Regional Office in South East Asia (WHO SEARO), is implementing a project to strengthen Public Health Emergency Operations Centres (PHEOC). On 23 September 2020, RKI held a virtual meeting with all 11 member states together with WHO SEARO. The aim was…
Olusola Anouluwapo Akanbi is a guest researcher from Nigeria, she will spend 5 months 1 June – 31 October 2020 at the RKI in Unit 15 (Gastroenteritis and Hepatitis Pathogens and Enteroviruses). She has previously worked on molecular characterisation of hepatitis viruses in Nigeria and is currently doing more in-depth…