The mission of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) is to provide the highest standard of health care to the people of the region, based on harmonised Member States"
policies, the pooling of resources and cooperation between Member States and third countries for a collective and strategic combat against the health problems in the region.
WAHO was set up from a merger between the West African Health Community (WAHC), which was a specialised medical training institution in English speaking countries and the
Organisation for Coordination and Cooperation for Control of Major Endemic Diseases (OCCGE), a research institution providing support to French speaking countries.
West Africa is a region fraught with recurring epidemic outbreaks of infectious diseases. In addition to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic which ravaged the region between
2014 and 2016, there were also reported outbreaks of cholera, meningitis, Lassa fever and Zika virus disease. All these epidemics have demonstrated the importance of focusing on
countries" preparedness to effectively address health threats in the region. The recent epidemics in West Africa have highlighted weaknesses in knowledge transfer and use of
evidence in preparedness and response during outbreaks.
Evidence is defined as “the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid. The word evidence is derived from Latin
"videre" (to see). According to Descartes, evidence is the hallmark of truth.
Knowledge transfer is defined as the "totality of efforts to help raise awareness and get recognized for activities and research findings (...) for use by the practice
communities, policy makers and the general public, whether the approach is interactive or not "(Research Fund of Quebec - Society and Culture, 2011, p. 9).
Given the critical role of knowledge transfer in preparedness and response to epidemics and health emergencies, WAHO, which is mandated to provide the highest level of health
care to the population of ECOWAS has agreed with the Regional Office of the United Nations Development Program, under the implementation of the regional project entitled:
“Supporting and Strengthening Sub-regional post-Ebola Medical Surveillance and Socioeconomic Recovery Initiatives in West Africa” to pay particular attention to this
fundamental pillar of epidemic preparedness of ECOWAS countries. In this context, a review of the current context is planned and will take the form of an in-depth study, a kind
of situation analysis (with an approach toward the region overall and ECOWAS countries individually) of knowledge transfer and use of evidence.
This situation analysis will eventually yield a knowledge transfer strategy and lead to an operational platform for using evidence to improve preparedness and response to
epidemics/health emergencies. The knowledge transfer strategy should be implemented within the framework of multisectoral approach and taking into account all decision-making
bodies. Key elements for this strategy include integrating all stakeholders and considering the needs of affected populations, including aspects related to gender and equity.
WAHO, in collaboration with UNDP will harness the validation of the situation analysis to strengthen the capacities of national officials to design and implement more
appropriate interventions in terms of knowledge transfer and use of evidence in the West Africa region.
To achieve this objective, WAHO and the UNDP Regional Office have decided to enlist the service of an international Consultant. These terms of reference aim to clarify
conditions for the smooth running of this consultancy mission.
The duration of the consultancy will be 30 days. The final activity will include the presentation of findings at a workshop in January 2018.
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