Training and Refresher in Ultrasound for Diagnosis of Morbidity due to
S. haematobium Infection – a Follow-Up to the 2004 Training in Niger
In September 2004, a training workshop was held in Niamey, Niger, on the use
of ultrasound for the diagnosis of morbidity due to S.haematobium. The
workshop was held for the SCI supported Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted
Helminth Control Programmes in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The aim was to
train two candidates from each country to undertake the ultrasound
examinations, forming the morbidity component of the monitoring and
evaluation studies which are an essential part of the control programmes.
The trained ultrasonographers went on to support the national control
programmes.
The four trained ultrasonographers from Mali and Niger have since
continued supporting the annual ultrasound monitoring of the cohorts in
their respective countries. However, the two ultrasonographers from Burkina
Faso have since become unavailable, leaving Burkina Faso’s national control
programme without any ultrasound specialists.
To ensure and refine the level of skills required by the ultrasonographers
in Mali and Niger and to correct this lack of expertise in Burkina Faso, two
experienced ultrasonographers, Dr. Adama Keita (Mali) and Dr. Amadou Garba
(Niger), agreed to supervise a refresher training session and to offer a
full training course to two newly identified Burkinabe ultrasonographers.
The refresher training in Mali and Niger was successfully completed in May.
The national control programme in Mali and Niger now both have ultrasound
specialists who need no supervision they will continue to support the cohort
follow-ups for the SCI’s monitoring and evaluations studies. The final course will be carried out as soon as two new ultrasonographers
have been identified by the Ministry of Health in Burkina Faso.
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