Field Malaria Courses in Tanzania and in Lao PDR: Four-Week Postgraduate Courses on Malaria Prevention, Control & Elimination

The objectives of the course are to build capacity by reinforcing knowledge and expertise of persons involved in the care of patients, in control programmes or in research activities in the field of malaria and to improve skills in time management, presenting and writing research proposals. At the end of the course, the participants should be able to manage malaria issues more effectively and to develop basic training courses and material in their home institutions.

Structure of the course

The course is offered by Swiss TPH in collaboration with the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), Bagamoyo Branch and the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme (ZAMEP) in Tanzania as well as with the Lao Tropical and Public Health Institute (Lao TPHI) in Lao PDR. The duration of the courses are 4 weeks. The structure is modular and the course is taught using blended-learning approach. Each module lasts one week (5 days). Every Monday, the participants receive questions related to the topic of the week. Under the mentorship of the facilitators and in collaboration with their peers using literature search (internet), the participants complete their assignments and give a presentation to the entire group on Friday. In addition to the self-directed, peer-to-peer learning, the module includes lectures (one per day) and educational visits (one per week). The study time for the 4 weeks is 200 hours of preparational and on-site learning.

Facilitators

International and national experts from affected and non-affected countries selected for their area of expertise, teaching skills and willingness to be deeply involved in the learning process.
 

Each participant will pay a registration fee of USD 500. Travel, accommodation and catering expenses are sponsored by the organisers and will amount to approximately USD 10'000 per participant. Health insurance is at the expense of the participants. No per diem will be paid. The registration fee cannot be waived.
 

Participants of the Field Malaria Course have an alumni platform to stay in touch and exchange information beyond the on-campus course (https://swisstph.ecampus.ssphplus.ch/course/view.php?id=153, log in with your username and password). To date, the course has been organised 8 times: Ifakara 2007, 2012, 2014 and Bagamoyo 2017, 2019, 2022 (x2), 2023.

The alumni platform has 3 main objectives

• To provide a space for continued exchange after the course between colleagues from their cohort and other cohorts, as well as with facilitators. 
• To share relevant news, including new courses, articles on malaria issues.
• To request specific information from the course organisers.

The first issue of the newsletter was produced in January 2021 and circulated among our malaria field course alumni. The newsletter features personal stories, tips & tricks, and a list of upcoming events, scholarships, and trainings. It also includes a list of recent articles written by our alumni.