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Partnership Actions (PAMS) West Africa
Current PAMS Projects
Youth for youth: Initiating a youth magazine by adolescents and for adolescents
Start: Autumn 2011
Executing Agency:: Adolescent Health and Development (ADHD), Ghana Health Service Accra, Ghana
Partners: Swiss TPH
Since Ghana offers few opportunities for young people to share their experiences regarding sexual and reproductive health (SRH), this PAMS seeks to provide a platform for such exchange. Using an education and entertainment (or “edutainment”) approach, the main emphasis of the project is a participatory youth journal by and for adolescents in Ghana. The journal will be edited by local youths with the support of a senior SRH advisor and is intended for dissemination in selected schools and community centres.
A feedback and comment component combined with a stakeholder workshop incorporating policy makers and practitioners will enable evaluation of the journal. Based on this assessment, measures necessary to sustain the journal in the future will be discussed. Finally, an analysis of lessons learned from this approach will culminate in publication of a peer-reviewed article.
Converting waste problem to opportunity: promotion of the reuse of Echinochloa pyramidalis, a fodder plant used for faecal sludge dewatering in Cameroon
Start: July 2011
Executing Agency:: Aquacare
Partners: Sandec/Eawag
An NCCR North-South PhD study in Cameroon found that the plant Echinochloa pyramidalis can be used for faecal sludge dewatering; the plant is also highly prized as fodder for livestock. Yet farmers and breeders may be reluctant to use by-products grown using human waste. This PAMS project aims to promote the acceptability and the use of E. pyramidalis grown in such conditions. Municipal technicians will be trained in application and use of the fodder plant, and a demonstration unit will be constructed. Workshops, trainings, and the mass media will be used to disseminate the findings.
Prise en charge des patients co-infectés TB/VIH en milieu urbain défavorisé de Nouakchott, Mauretanie
Duration: April 2010 to Present
Executing Agency: ROMATUB Nouakchott
Partners: Swiss TPH
This project builds on the results of a study on the perception of tuberculosis among newly sedentary, previously mobile pastoralists in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Most Mauritanians are unaware of the relationship between HIV/AIDS and TB. This PAMS will focus on co-infected patients who develop multi-drug resistance as well as non-compliant patients who leave the district before completing their full, six-month treatment regimen. The aims of the project are to increase public awareness of TB and its interactions with HIV infection in Nouakchott and to support poor patients in sticking to a nutrition programme. The major goal is to reduce stigmatisation of patients and empower them to improve their health through active participation in treatment regimens and good nutrition. On a global level, the project aims to sensitise the public and strengthen the political dialogue concerning improving treatment of HIV/AIDS and TB among disadvantaged patients.
Download policy brief (French / PDF 1.1 MB)
Enhancing pastoral capacities through improved local cheese production around N’Djamena
Duration: April 2010 to Present
Executing Agency: CSSI (Centre de Support en Santé Internationale)
Partners: Swiss TPH
This PAMS aims at organising actors involved in dairy production, particularly stockbreeders, in and around the N’Djamena region of Chad. Its main goal is that of improving hygiene conditions through training and capacity building of individual actors and the establishment of systematic quality controls. Further, the project aims to increase local productivity, product quality, and product marketability via improved hygiene conditions. Specifically, farmers involved in the project will be organised in associations and trained in techniques and best practices. In addition, selling points will be created based on best practices in order to better market the products. On a global level, this PAMS also aims to contribute to boosting the nutritional status of women and children by securing the dairy commodity chain and improving the quality of milk.
Completed PAMS Projects
Strengthening local stakeholders’ capacities to improve the faecal sludge management in Ouahigouya
Duration: December 2007 to February 2009
Executing Agency: Centre Régional pour l’Eau Potable et l’Assainissement à faible coût (CREPA), Ouagadougou
Partners: Sandec/Eawag; Swiss TPH; CSRS
This PAMS focussed on improving faecal sludge management in the municipality of Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso. Three technologies for collecting faecal sludge were developed and tested. Moreover, an awareness-raising campaign on sanitation was started, and the individuals in charge of manually collecting sludge formed an association. However, the PAMS could not be brought to an end, because the researcher – who had worked at the Executing Agency – left before the PAMS was completed.
Regional collaboration for prevention of HIV/AIDS in Nouakchott, Mauritania
Duration: January to December 2007
Executing Agency: Institut National de Recherche en Santé Publique (INRSP), Nouakchott
Partners: Swiss TPH
This PAMS built on research which showed that adolescents are not aware of the HIV risk when entering sexual relationships. “Peer educators” (adolescents in schools) were trained to disseminate information among their schoolmates. A questionnaire was distributed among 100 school kids before and after the campaign, revealing a significant increase in HIV-related knowledge. Most of the parents signed the agreement for their child to attend the training on HIV. This means that they agreed that their children would talk about sexuality. According to the project team, this was unusual in Mauritanian tradition.
Contact
For regional PAMS information:
Bassirou Bonfoh, Regional Coordinator, West Africa
For general PAMS information:
Eva Maria Heim, Coordinator of Partnership Actions
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