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Organization Contact Information | |
| Name: | EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA HEALTH COMMUNITY |
| Street 1: | PLOT 157 OLOIRIEN NJIRO ROAD |
| Street 2: | |
| City: | ARUSHA |
| Province: | |
| Post Code: | |
| Country: | United Republic of Tanzania |
| Phone: | +255272549362 |
| Organization Email: | regsec@ecsahc.org |
| Web Site: | http://ecsahc.org |
| Other Online Presence: | |
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General Information | |
| Board Constituency: | None |
| Is your organization legally registered in your country: | Yes |
| If yes, please enter your registration number: | It is a diplomatic entity |
| Organization Type - Primary: | Governmental Organization |
| Organization Type - Secondary: | None |
| Organization Description: | |
The East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) is an inter-governmental regional health organisation that fosters and strengthens regional cooperation and capacity to address the health needs of its nine member states namely Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Other non-member state countries supported by the organisation include Burundi, Botswana, Eritrea, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Seychelles and Somalia. The organisation has strong collective political, administrative and professional support of all its member states, regional and international organisations and occupies a unique position to provide leadership on various health sector issues in the region. Established in 1974, ECSA-HC has more than 40 years of experience providing technical assistance in health and strong support from all of its member states and Major donors including World Bank, Global Fund, European Union, USAID and other donors. ECSA-HC is strategically positioned to provide leadership on various health sector issues within the ECSA region Our Vision is to the leader in health in East Central and Southern Africa, contributing towards the attainment of highest standard of physical, mental and social well-being of the people in the region. Our Mission recognises health as a fundamental human right. As an inter-governmental organisation, ECSA-HC promotes the highest standards of health for the individuals, families and communities through advocacy, capacity building, brokerage, coordination, inter-sectoral collaboration and harmonisation of health policies and programmes ECSA-HC supports countries in the region in disease outbreak management, Antimicrobial disease response, cross border disease surveillance and improved diagnostic capacity. These include: supporting capacity strengthening of laboratory workforce; supporting implementation of innovative programs and activities; supporting development and implementation of lab |
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| Do you know about the UNHLM declaration: | Yes |
Specializations / Areas of Work | |
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Advocacy Civil Society and Community Engagement Engaging political leaders and ensuring inclusive leadership Research and Development Technical Assistance Working on Community, Rights and Gender (CRG) Working on Key Populations related to TB |
Other Organization Information | |
| Total number of staff in your organization: | 51 - 99 |
| Number of full-time staff who are directly involved with TB: | 26 - 50 |
| Number of part-time staff who are directly involved with TB: | 6 - 10 |
| Number of volunteers who are directly involved with TB: | 1 - 5 |
| How did you hear about the Stop TB Partnership: | Attendance at a TB related event |
| If you were informed or referred by another partner of the Stop TB Partnership please tell us who: | |
| Why do you wish join the Stop TB Partnership: | Involvement in Stop TB Working Groups |
| Are you a member of a Stop TB national partnership: | No |
| Are you in contact with your national TB programme: | Yes |
| Please tell us how your organization is contributing to your country's national TB control plan: | |
| ECSA-HC is a regional inter-governmental organisation that supports various countries or Member States on various health issues including the fight against TB. ECSA-HC is currently the regional leader supporting the strengthening of national TB Laboratories within 26 countries, supports countries to strengthen diseases surveillance, preparedness and response to events of public health importance, ECSA-HC has facilitated implementation of several initiatives that included establishment of cross-border zones, conducting of table top simulations, training and capacity building and implementation of event Based Surveillance (EBS. ECSA-HC collaborating with other partners supports the following training activities; MDR TB management, TB data for decision making, Principles of TB control, TB diagnostics and TB infection control among the key prioritised areas in the training needs assessment. Supports countries on specialised areas they needed support in such as laboratory-based surveillance (Malawi), quality systems improvement, website content management and research methodology to build capacity to conduct prioritised research by all countries, and THIRA (Lesotho). To strengthen capacities of the country teams and enhance learning, through ECSA-HC led activities trained 399 health care workers on screening and infection control. To strengthen the quality of TB interventions ECSA-HC provides support to countries, through capacity development and mentorship, and has engaged a pool of regional stakeholders to tackle cross-border TB management. Through the TB in mines projects supported by the Global Fund ECSA-HC together with SADC are supporting the; Establishment of multi-country and multi-sectoral co-ordination and accountability mechanism for TB in the mines; Strengthening capacity for mine health and safety structures and systems in the countries; Strengthening strategic information systems for promoting southern Africa TIMS commitment; Mainstreaming gender and human rights issues as pertains TB in the mines into national TB control programs; Enabling effective participation of key population into governance structures at national and regional level in regards to control of TB in the mines Major TB related projects that ECSA-HC is supporting include 1. Tuberculosis in the Minining Sector in Southern Africa (TIMS) [All 16 SADC countries] 2. Southern Africa Tuberculosis and Health Systems Support (SATBHSS) [Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia] 3. Strengthening Pandemic Prepardness and Respones (ECSA SPP)( Rwanda, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho, Tanzania) 4. Regional Laboratory strengthening project (22 countries) |
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Geographical Reach | |
| Which country is your headquarters located in: | United Republic of Tanzania |
| Which countries do you do operate in: (This includes countries you are conducting activities in) |
Angola Botswana Burundi Democratic Republic of the Congo Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe Seychelles South Africa South Sudan Uganda United Republic of Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe |
Contribution | |
| Please tell us how your organization will contribute to the Global Plan to Stop TB by briefly describing its involvement in any of the areas of work listed below: | |
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TB Care Delivery: Through support from the World Bank and the Global Fund; The Southern Africa Tuberculosis and Health Systems Strengthening (SATBHSS) ECSA has implemented within four countries of the Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. ECSA-HC together with AUD-NEPAD tackle regional TB dimensions. Through supporting mining and peri mining communities, labor sending areas, high TB burden regions, high HIV burden regions, transport corridors and cross border areas of participating countries. Prioritising full implementation of the WHO END TB strategy including the 90-90-90 targets in strengthening demand and supply side of public health systems for effective management of TB and other communicable diseases and improved use of the latest diagnostic methods for TB and occupational lung diseases. ECSA has seen and achieved increased screening and detection of TB cases among miners and ex-miners in Lesotho, Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi. Drug-Resistant TB: ECSAHC has trained more than 2,600 health professionals in various disciplines, including laboratory diagnosis, occupational health, mine health and safety, nursing, x-ray reading, and management of MDR-TB, among others, contributing to overall health sector capacity building. The training activities also benefited staff from Ministries of Mines, and Labour in areas such as mine inspections and enforcement of labor laws and regulations TB-HIV: Through the World Bank support and ECSA support to the countries, Malawi made strides to detect and put on treatment TB cases through the first phase of the Center of Excellence (CoE) on Community TB management. Through ECSAHC Support Malawi made progress in reducing TB mortality in people living with HIV (PLHIV) by more than the planned 75 percent. In line with the End TB Strategy, the country could be on track to reduce TB deaths in PLHIV by 2030, if it sustains and enhances detection and treatment rates. Since 2010, ECSA Health Community has received funding from Global Fund, World Bank, European Union and other donors of which it has implemented and managed comprehensive HIV/AIDS/TB services in over 26 countries in the region. These include; Botswana, Burundi, Eritrea, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Somalia, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Madagascar, Liberia, Ethiopia, DRC, Comoros. ECSA Health Community uses Health Systems Strengthening methodology to develop its strategic approaches and actions in tandem with national plans and ensures strategic alignment with the Global Health Agenda. Laboratory Strengthening: Through Global Fund Support, ECSA-HC together with SRL Uganda are strengthening the capacity of national TB reference laboratories (NRLs) of 18 countries (a) to improve TB diagnosis in the region establishing first-ever inter-state TB laboratory network (b) implemented proficiency testing for TB microscopy, GeneXpert and phenotypic Drug susceptibility testing (DST) (c) NRLs were capacitated to efficiently use GeneXpert and establish national level GeneXpert external quality assessment (EQA) networks (d) supported four NRLs to initiate second line TB DST (Line probe assay-LPA) for the diagnosis of XDR-TB (e) Three Drug Resistance Surveys (DRS) and two prevalence surveys (PS) in 5 countries of the sub-region were technically supported (f) Laboratory quality management systems (QMS) of NRLs were enhanced helping four NRLs to apply for ISO 15189. A number of Labs were supported to adapt the laboratory information system (LIS) developed for Uganda SRL. Such a systematic effort to establish TB regional TB laboratory network of NRLs is unique and first of its kind, globally. This initiative was expanded to West Africa given the positive outcome. In the recent years ECSAHC has focussed on improving the quality and diagnostic capacity of the NRLs in 21 countries as well as build their capacity to support the TB Laboratory networks. Supported drug resistance surveys, surveillance as well as TB prevalence surveys. Intending to impact TB care and prevention as well as programmatic management of MDR-TB in line with the End-TB strategy. Promoted synergies and integration with HIV and other programs in the regional to maximise impact. In its achievements ECSA has strengthened the laboratory quality through International Organization for Standardization (ISO) accreditation, Stepwise Laboratory Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) rating, and laboratory audits in partnership with the Africa Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM). Overall our focus is on; 1. Strengthen the inter-state regional network of National TB reference Laboratories (NRLs) for improved TB management in the ECSA region. 2. Improved Laboratory service provision for quality assured phenotypic 1st and 2nd line Drug susceptibility testing accessible to needy people of the ECSA region 3. Enhance the impact of rapid WHO Recommended Diagnostics in the region 4. Consolidate capacity of NRLs to undertake epidemiological/national level- disease monitoring surveys such as DRS and TB disease prevalence New Diagnostics: Through its various projects ECSAHC has supported improved access, quality, and efficiency of TB diagnostic services using an integrated approach to laboratory strengthening in 21 African countries; this was done through facilitating learning and knowledge sharing across the network of participating laboratories and countries. While the initial focus of this operation was on the relatively neglected aspect of TB diagnostics, the program laid the foundation for laboratory strengthening for other diseases targeting the health system dimension common to all diseases. Generally ECSA through its initiatives has seen increasing adoption of new diagnostics that has contributed to increasing rates of TB case detection in 21 countries on the continent. We have also supported the strengthening of sample referral systems in the countries. |
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Declaration | |
| Declaration of interests: NONE | |
| Application date: | September 13, 2023 |
| Last updated: | September 15, 2023 |