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MediLabSecure Newsletter n°10
April 2020


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COVID-19 PANDEMIC
MediLabSecure on the front line to face COVID-19 pandemic

Human virology working group

 
In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the human virology working group coordinated by the Laboratory for Urgent Response to Biological Threats (CIBU) at the Institut Pasteur, has been directly involved in the epidemic response from the beginning through active information, discussions, diagnostic tools sharing and technical support. In particular, early during the crisis, the human virology working group sent diagnostic kits for SARS-CoV-2 (primers, probes, and positive controls) to all laboratories from the network that requested support in order to accelerate their preparation. Besides an EQA on coronaviruses for all voluntary laboratories will be organised to make sure the diagnostic is correctly implemented.

Read more...
 

Animal virology working group


In parallel, the animal virology working group coordinated by the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA) has sent to all beneficiary vet laboratories some useful guidance documents produced by OIE with the help of expert virologists.
Likewise, SOPs, information about supplies and reagents, etc. have also been sent to vet laboratories from the network that have requested support for COVID-19 diagnostics.
Finally, the Coronavirus EQA organised by the human virology working group has been opened also to vet laboratories and by now, 6 countries have expressed their interest to participate.
 

Public health working group


The public health working group, coordinated by the National Center for Global Health at Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), is developing a course on “Preparing to and fighting the Health Emergency from novel Coronavirus SARS CoV-2” for MediLabSecure countries based on the on-line course developed by ISS  for the health personnel of the Italian Health Services.
The course will be in English and French and is structured into three units:
  • features of SARS CoV-2 emergency;
  • surveillance, identification and management of suspects and cases;
  • information for the health personnel on prevention, identification and control in clinical settings.
A downloadable training package and training material for trainers will be available for MediLabSecure Countries.

Within one week time,  coordinators of the public health working group will contact the public health referents of MediLabSecure countries to request some information relevant for the finalisation of the course and  the list of health personnel of their countries interested in the training.
Even in spite of the current lockdowns in France, Spain and Italia, the entire MediLabSecure team is still working and supporting all our colleagues and friends who are on the firstline as well.
If you need help or support, advice or if you have information useful for our community,
please let us know.
MediLabSecure was meant to prepare ourselves and to create a strong collaborating network to face such an event! Let’s prove we can do it!
MediPIET COVID-19 webinar series
MediPIET, a European Union-DG DEVCO funded regional training programme network in field epidemiology, is contributing to the response to COVID-19 pandemic with the implementation of webinar series.

The first webinar will take place on next Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 2pm (Central Europe Summer Time) and will focus on public health actions for prevention, containment and mitigation of COVID-19.

For this occasion, Prof LEUNG, Gabriel M, Dean of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, will provide insights on:
  • Available evidence about the dynamics of COVID-19 pandemic with importance in the public health response,
  • Public health measures used for prevention,containment and mitigation of COVID-19 and the main considerations for different epidemic contexts,
  • Success components of the response in tackling the COVID-19 outbreak in China. 
This 30min talk will be then followed by a 15min live Questions & Answers session.

During those 45 minutes, you may find some answers and invaluable food for thought from one of the mainworldwide leading experts in COVID-19.

You can join the webinar via WebEX by clicking here.

Please be aware that participants must keep their audio mute and join the meeting without video/camera.

In case of unavailability at the proposed time, the webinar will be recorded and posted on MediPIET website.

Contacts for more information :
Adele PAEZ | Concha Martin de Pando
 
Join the meeting
Mobilisation of funding for Covid-19 research in
sub-Saharan Africa
The EDCTP “Emergency Funding Mechanism” allows rapid mobilisation of research funding based on a call for expressions of interest in exceptional and duly substantiated emergencies.

In the light of rising numbers of COVID-19 cases being reported from affected countries, including several sub-Saharan African countries, the EDCTP Association has agreed to activate the emergency funding mechanism to support Research & Innovation Actions (RIAs) as part of the European response to the COVID-19 emergency.

EDCTP invites expressions of interest proposals for RIAs to support research activities in sub-Saharan Africa to manage and/or prevent the spread of the current COVID-19 outbreak.

Deadline for submission: April 17, 2020

More information...
NETWORKING
MediLabSecure Regional Meeting in Dakar
The second phase of the MediLabSecure project integrated 5 new countries from the Sahel region within the network. Since the first meeting organized in July 2019, these new members successfully joined the project and participated to several workshops. To continue on this path, the first Regional Meeting of the second phase of the MediLabSecure project was organized in Dakar (Senegal) on January 20-24, 2020 to promote the project and its outcomes in this newly targeted region.
 
The meeting gathered 75 participants, including representatives of the laboratories and public health institutions from the 8 countries of the MediLabSecure network in Sahel and Maghreb regions (i.e. the beneficiary countries targeted for this first Regional Meeting), international experts, representatives of the national authorities, representatives from the EU CoE CBRN initiative as well as Work Package Leaders (c.f. details in section 2.c below).
 
In line with the suggestions raised by network members in the region, the meeting was mainly focused on Rift Valley Fever with the usual “One Health” spirit that constitutes the roots of the MediLabSecure project.

Read more...
Pictures
MediLabSecure Charter of values collaborative design

All network members were invited during the first Regional Meeting in Dakar to actively participate in the design of the MediLabSecure charter of values. The idea was to encourage and foster the network ownership and sustainability by collaboratively brainstorming on the values, aspirations and commitments that unite the network.
This workshop was tailored as a brainstorming session inspired from the MetaPlan methodology.
Participants were divided into 3 mixed groups (the groups were designed to mingle countries and working groups in order to favor collaboration and ensure representatives results). The same two questions were asked to the three groups, one question after the other, and they had to write their ideas on post-it notes, using one per idea. Altogether with the coordination team, post-its were read out loudly and organized according to their similarities into categories.
After the session, the coordination team worked to bring the results from the three groups together. A restitution of the results was made the next morning to the participants and noticeboards were created to summarize the different points. The boards were displayed outside the meeting room and the participants were asked to "vote" for the nine items they considered most relevant. They were given nine stickers they had to stick on the boards.
This exercise will be done with participants from each country of the MediLabSecure network.
TRAINING ACTIVITIES
GIS spatial for risk mapping training
During the first regional meeting in Dakar, the modelling/early warning system working group (WP5) organized a one-and-a-half day training on GIS for spatial risk mapping and early warning. Designed and presented by Guy Hendrickx and Cedric Marsboom fromAVIA-GIS with the external support of Rafik Garni (Institut Pasteur d’Alger), this training was an introduction to an eight week distance learning course on GIS applied to epidemiology. It was also the beginning of a continuous GIS support to ensure that MediLabsecure representatives can use GIS in their professional activities related to disease surveillance and early warning.

Read more
Multisectoral Risk Assessment Exercise on Rift Valley Fever
During the first Regional Meeting of the second phase of the MediLabSecure project held in Dakar, Senegal, a Multisectoral Risk Assessment (MRA) exercise was carried out with representatives from all sectors (human and animal virology, medical entomology, public health and veterinary services, modelling and early warning tool) involved. Eight countries from Maghreb and Sahel regions participated in the exercise : Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia.

Read more...
Medical entomology for non-entomologists training
A training on entomology for non-entomologists was carried out on the fourth day of the Regional Meeting.
Alternating between small courses and practical exercises, this interactive one-day training on basic medical and veterinary entomology was addressed to all MediLabSecure people who are not specialist in entomology.

Read more
AGENDA
Workshop on outbreak investigation postponed
The second workshop of the human virology working group entitled "Outbreak investigations: new molecular tools for the identification of viral pathogens"  has been postponed due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Initially planned at the Institut Pasteur from March 16th to 20th, 2020, this workshop, presenting new approaches and "Point-of-Care" approaches to molecular investigations of viral and arboviral diseases, should be rescheduled to June 8-12, 2020 depending on the evolution of the epidemic. Final dates will be communicate to all participants once we will have more visibility.
Training on vector control
A joint training "Field assessment of quality in control measures against Aedes invasive mosquitoes" co-organized with MediLabSecure, AIM-COST and IAEA project is planned on 14-25 September 2020 in Valencia (Spain). Pr. Dusan Petrić, is the key person for this ambitious training as he is involved in the three projects. 
The Covid19 outbreak clearly weakes this project.   More information soon. 
LEARNING & ADVOCACY TOOLS
Mosquito genera simplified identitifcation key
Accurate morphological identification of mosquitoes is crucial for the management and control of vector species. With this in mind, the key to the genera provides the first crucial step in the process to species identification.
In this framework, the medical entomology group has developed in collaboration with IRD and the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, a simplified key to identify genera of mosquitoes in a poster format.
This educational and practical tool is intended to help people, who are entomologists or not, to facilitate the identification of the 7 genera of mosquitoes at larva and adulte stage in Europe, North Africa and Middle-East Regions.
MosKeyTool  new version V2.2
A new version of MosKeyTool - interactive identification key for mosquitoes of Euro-Mediterranean - is available. This version V2.2 is already accessible here, and it will be soon available on the MediLabSecure website.
By regard to Version 1, Version 2 includes the European part of Russia, updates on the distribution of each mosquito species in the complete area, and corrects some bugs and imprecision.
By regard to Version 2.1, the Version 2.2 corrects some bugs and imprecisions and updates the area of distribution, especially for invasive species. Thank you Filiz Gunay !
 
Version 2.2
PUBLICATIONS
Integrated early warning surveillance:
Achilles’ heel of One Health?
Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and zoonoses indicate the importance of the One Health approach for early warning. At present, even when surveillance data are available, they are infrequently timeously shared between the health sectors. In this context, the public health working group of the MediLabSecure project published an article entitled "Integrated early warning surveillance: Achilles’ heel of One Health?" This article is based on the investigation of the collection of a set of surveillance indicators able to provide data for the implementation of integrated early warning systems in the 22 MediLabSecure participating countries of the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Sahel regions.
 
Read the article
  ON OUR RADAR  
WHO free online One Health course
WHO offers an online course geared to professionals from human, animal or environmental health sectors involved in the implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005).
The objectives are to:
  • Describe the One Health approach and principles of multisectoral collaboration.
  • Provide examples of how a One Health approach may be taken to address a health threat or disease event.
  • Explain how a One Health approach contributes to a functional national health system, including national IHR implementation, evaluation, and capacity building.
More information
ENJOY READING
 Medical entomology newsletter #21

In addition to the MediLabSecure newsletter, specific newsletters dedicated to the medical entomology working group activities are also regularly released, and can be accessed on this page of the MediLabSecure website.

Enjoy reading the 21th edition released in March 2020 to keep you updated of what's going on within the network!


     
 Medical entomology newsletter #21
THANK YOU!
We wanted to finish this newsletter by paying tribute to Marie Picard who unfortunately left recentlly the MediLabSecure project.
Alongside Vincent Robert, Marie created and dynamically animated the medical entomology network. She was an essential part of the MediLabSecure project and we will miss a lot her creativity and enthusiasm.
Thank you Marie and we wish you all the best for the future!
Stay tuned for upcoming news!
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MediLabSecure is a project funded by the European Union and coordinated by the Institut Pasteur.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "eu flag"         
 

The MediLabSecure Project is funded by the European Commission and the DG for International Cooperation and Development under the Instrument Contributing to Stability and Peace, linked to the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centres of Excellence initiative – EU CBRN CoE
 






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