GSSHealth Collaborates with CDC, Local Partners to Boost Bacterial Meningitis Diagnosis and Drug-Resistance Detection in Burkina Faso
From April 22-26, 2024, GSSHealth organized an intensive training workshop on the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis and testing for antimicrobial resistance in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. This is part of a multi-year effort to provide technical assistance aiming at reinforcing participants' knowledge and skills in the identification and characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Haemophilus influenzae. Eighteen healthcare professionals from 11 diagnostic laboratories successfully completed this workshop.
Figure 1. List of didactic presentations covered in the April 2024 laboratory technical workshop in Burkina Faso.
This project is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC): Global Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory and Response Network. The workshop was co-facilitated by selected local laboratory experts from the Burkina Faso Ministry of Health (MoH), Meningitis National Reference Laboratory (NRL), and GSSHealth. Both didactic presentations (Figure 1) and hands-on laboratory exercises (Figure 2) were offered to build and reinforce theoretical knowledge and practical competencies of participants.
In addition to expert-led seminars and practical sessions, the workshop incorporated peer-to-peer education sessions (Figure 3) and a quality improvement planning exercise.
The peer-to-peer learning sessions, also known as teach-back exercises, allowed participants to build their presentation skills, reiterate key information from the workshop, and receive constructive feedback from fellow participants about how best to share key learnings with colleagues upon return to their home institutions. This addition to the workshop enhances the reach of CDC investments and ensures sustainable skills development.
Figure 2. Preparation of culture media for bacterial growth during an in-laboratory practical exercise.
Figure 3. Teach-back session being presented by a participant of the workshop.
In the quality improvement planning exercise, participants formed small groups to discuss, identify, and document initiatives to be implemented at their laboratories to strengthen technical and administrative processes related to bacterial meningitis testing and antimicrobial resistance detection.
By the end of the workshop, participants' theoretical test scores had increased by an average of 17%[1] and trainers observed improvements in participants’ applied skills in sample management, culture media preparation, bacterial colony isolation and identification, biochemical testing, and antibiotic susceptibility testing.
Following the workshop, GSSHealth is providing ongoing support for participants through remote communication, encouraging the organization of cascade trainings, offering support for the implementation of improvement projects identified during the workshop, and providing resources such as training materials and standard operating procedure templates for adaptation to the local context.
Moving forward, GSSHealth will continue its close collaboration with stakeholders of the Burkina Faso MoH, the Meningitis NRL, and the US CDC, continuing to build local capacity for AMR detection through the ongoing professional development of healthcare staff, investment in laboratory capacity-building, organization of laboratory supervisory visits, and expansion of testing capacity at the national and regional level laboratories
[1] The average pre-test score was 64%, and the average post-test score was 81%.