AFRO IDSR Course 3: Investigating, preparing and responding to outbreaks and other public health events

Course information

The full online Training Package will consist of 5 courses in English, French and Portuguese and will be available in 2022.

Guidance for AFRO target audiences: Which IDSR course should I take?

Course 3 Overview: Course 3 has been developed in order to ensure the successful implementation of the IDSR Strategy 2020 - 2030 and the IDSR Technical Guidelines 3rd Edition 2019: Booklets One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six, including Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‑19).

Course 3 describes and outlines the detailed steps in investigating outbreaks due to an infectious disease. These steps can also be applied in the investigation of other public health problems such as when an increase in chronic or non-communicable disease or unusual public health event is detected. The course also describes the steps for organizing and setting up preparedness and response structures at the community, health facility, district, regional and national levels, such structures include; Public Health Emergency Operation Centre (PHEOC), Public Health Emergency Management Committee, Public Health Emergency Rapid Response Teams (PHERRT) . Course 3 further provides guidance on developing a multi-hazard emergency preparedness and response plan. Furthermore, Course 3 provides a step by step guidance in responding to outbreaks or public health emergencies in the AFRO region.

Risk communication is a critical element of disaster and emergency preparedness and response. It is the real-time exchange of information, advice and opinions between experts, community leaders, or officials and the people who are at risk. Course 3 describes how to conduct effective risk communication before, during and after an outbreak, and provides step by step guidance on how to conduct effective risk communication and community participation in preparedness and response to public health emergencies.

A Participant's Guide for Course 3 is available here. Participant Guides contain the course content and learning activities and are provided for reference purposes during the online training and for further study offline.

We suggest that you download the Technical Guidelines 3rd Edition and the Participants Guide before you start the course.

Course 3 consists of an Overview presentation and 4 modules. The modules are further divided into various parts:

Module 1: Investigate suspected outbreaks and other public health events
Part 1: General principles of outbreak investigation
Part 2: Steps 1 to 3 in outbreak investigation
Part 3: Steps 4 to 10 in outbreak investigation

Module 2: Prepare to respond to outbreaks and other public health events
Part 1: Steps in Establishing Public Health Emergency Operation Centre
Part 2: Establishment of Public Health Emergency Management Committee and Sub-committees
Part 3: Establishment of Public Health Emergency Rapid Response Teams

Module 3: Respond to outbreaks and other public health events
Part 1: Steps in responding to outbreaks/public health emergencies
Part 2: Management of selected priority diseases

Module 4: Risk Communication
Part 1: Principles of effective risk communication
Part 2: Conducting effective community engagement

Learning objectives: By the end of Course 3 participants should be able to recall and understand:

• The processes for outbreak investigation, confirming and controlling outbreaks and other public health events
• How to adequately prepare at community, health facility, district, regional and national levels to support outbreak response
• How to adequately respond to public health emergencies at district, regional and national levels
• How to use effective risk communication and community engagement at all levels including the communities at risk and provide regular feedback using appropriate communication channels

Course 3 duration: 4 hours

Certificates:

• A Confirmation of Participation will be issued to participants who have completed 100% of the learning materials in Course 3.

• A Record of Achievement will be awarded to those participants who have earned at least 80% of the maximum number of points from the quizzes in Course 3. Participants will be able to have an unlimited number of attempts at these quizzes in order to achieve the 80%.

• Participants who receive a Record of Achievement can also download an Open Badge for this course. Click here to learn how.