The RIPSEC Program is a partnership involving three countries and six public health institutions. At the level of the DRC, four institutions are concerned: ESP-UNILU, ESP-UNIKIN, ERSP-UCB and INRB
The School of Public Health of the University of Lubumbashi (ESP-UNILU), beneficiary institution. Since its creation, ESP-UNILU has focused its teaching and research on various public health topics, including the organization of health services, nutrition, maternal and child health, environment and toxicology.
The School of Public Health of the University of Kinshasa (ESP-UNIKIN). Of these three schools, ESP-UNIKIN is the oldest (established in 1984) and currently has a team of highly qualified teachers and researchers, including a wide range of areas of expertise in Public Health including epidemiology , the health economics and the health education unit. As such, ESP-UNIKIN has already been supporting ESP-UNILU for a few years in teaching and research.
The Regional School of Public Health of the Catholic University of Bukavu (ERSP-UCB). By its establishment in the East of the country which has been for years the seat of the rebellions, will bring its expertise in the management of the consequences of armed conflicts on the health of the population of the concerned provinces of Eastern DRC and the management of health systems in crisis. A number of ERS-UCB teachers in collaboration with CEMUBAC have developed expertise in nutrition issues.
The National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) of Kinshasa, a public health laboratory. His expertise will be sought in support of epidemiological surveillance and investigation of epidemics including confirmation of pathogens responsible for health problems and related biomedical research. He will also provide technical supervision of laboratories at 4 demonstration health zone hospitals.
The four institutions were chosen in order to ensure good national coverage (South, West and East of the country) and for their expressed interest to accompany the DRC government in the implementation of the PNDS.
At the regional level, the National School of Public Health (ENSP Rabat) in Rabat, Morocco, part of the consortium, has experience in the development and evaluation of national strategies for universal health coverage since 2002. In this respect, it has developed skills and experience that will benefit the RIPSEC programme.
At the level of Belgium, the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM) is the EU partner of the RIPSEC programme. ITM has long supported and supported a number of health projects around the world. The experts at this institution have long and extensive experience in health systems policy and management.
In the DRC, ITM support is as much about strengthening the health system as training health workers. In addition, the expertise of the ITM Public Health Department in the area of evidence-based decision-making will be critical in shaping CCSC’s development guidance.
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