New management training for immunisation leaders kicks-off at the University of Yaounde

Dr Marthe Sylvie Essengue Elouma, Gavi Regional Head, Francophone Africa (centre), and Erika Linnander, Director of GHLI and Principal Investigator for EPI LAMP, Yale University, being interviewed during the opening of the course at the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon. Credit: Gavi/2019.

Yaounde, 10 June 2019 - Yale’s Global Health Leadership Initiative (GHLI), the University of Yaoundé I (UYI), PATH, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance have joined forces to strengthen leadership and management of national immunisation programmes in French-speaking Gavi-supported countries. The Expanded Program on Immunisation Leadership and Management Programme (EPI LAMP) is an innovative management training course to improve the managerial capacity of governments to support Gavi’s mission to ensure every child is protected with life-saving vaccines.

The program reflects a commitment by all partners to ensure that French-speaking healthcare professionals have access to world-class leadership and management education.  The program builds on a successful EPILAMP for English-speaking delegations hosted last year at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) in Rwanda. From 2016-2020, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance aims to immunise 300 million children worldwide, saving 5-6 million lives. Achieving this goal requires effective planning, implementation and monitoring of immunisation programmes.

This year, the program will include 26 participants from six countries: Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congo Republic, and Guinea.  Participants have already started to learn through the e-learning portal and coaching calls with program faculty.  This week, they will be in the classroom together building relationships, refining their skills, and starting to work together on a mentored “breakthrough project” to improve immunisation programme performance. Upon completion of the nine-month course, teams will be better equipped to manage the increasingly complex immunisation systems in their home countries, with a focus on efficient operations, robust performance management and effective political engagement and advocacy.

“Management and leadership are fundamental to the achievement of global health targets, but teams from French-speaking countries have had limited access to world class programs like EPILAMP” said Erika Linnander, Director of GHLI and Principal Investigator for EPI LAMP. “With leadership from the University of Yaoundé I, and immunisation expertise from PATH, we believe we can bridge that gap.”

“At Gavi, we know that effective management of immunisation programmes is key to building country ownership,” said Dr Marthe Sylvie Essengue Elouma, Gavi Regional Head, Francophone Africa. “Our partnership with Yale’s Global Health Leadership Initiative (GHLI), the University of Yaoundé I (UYI) and PATH is one of many innovative investments in effective management that Gavi is rolling out. Their leadership and management expertise will be an important boost to our mission to build strong health systems reaching population who desperately need them while ensuring that no child goes without life-saving vaccines”, she added.

Beyond the benefit to the participants themselves, EPI LAMP has been designed as a collaboration between Yale, PATH, and UYI, with the goal of furthering the UYI’s capacity to deliver high quality management and leadership education for healthcare professionals, both in Cameroon and regionally. It is expected that this partnership will reinforce UYI’s global reputation as well as provide exposure of UYI faculty to meaningful new approaches while integrating a select group of UYI trainees as teaching fellows and allow sustained and extended program delivery.

About Yale’s Global Health Leadership Initiative

Yale’s Global Health Leadership Initiative (GHLI) generates cutting-edge research and high-impact educational programmes in management, leadership and organisational performance. For over 10 years, GHLI has served as a leading academic partner, working in the US and around the world to promote effective leadership capacity and efficient management systems at the national, sub-national, community, and health facility level. We bring diverse teams together, engaging faculty, students, and practitioners from across disciplines in pursuit of ambitious healthcare goals.

GHLI has established master’s degree programmes in healthcare administration (in partnership with local universities) in Ethiopia and Rwanda, as well as innovative certificate programmes for teams of mid-career and senior officials from the United Kingdom, United States, Southeast Asia, China, and in diverse country settings across the African continent. 

Grounded in the strengths of a leading research university, GHLI’s training programmes are consistently refined and strengthened based on both the latest scientific evidence and results of robust programme evaluations.  Our curricula are also informed by new research and approaches including efforts to understand and to develop leadership, management, and governance in diverse contexts, to study integration across sectors, and to develop and to evaluate interventions that improve the performance of complex health systems. Our leadership development programmes are guided by a model of experiential learning that enhances both individual and group problem-solving capacity, develops effective relationships and organisational cultures, promotes use of data for decision-making, and generates evidence-based solutions that can be scaled up. Learn more at ghli.yale.edu.

About the University of Yaoundé I

The University of Yaoundé I is a public university in Cameroon, located in the political capital Yaoundé. It was formed in 1993 following the university reform that split the University of Yaoundé, the oldest university in Cameroon, into two separate universities. University of Yaoundé I has four faculties: 1) Faculty of Arts Letters and Human Sciences (FALSH), 2) Faculty of Sciences (FS), 3) Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (FMBS), and 4) Faculty of Sciences in Education. The University also has three training schools: 1) National Polytechnic School, 2) High Teacher Training School, and 3) University Institute of Wood Technology. Within the University of Yaoundé I, the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is marked by diversity within faculty and high human resources capability for providing high levels of training in the area of Public Health Program Management. The EPI LAMP Cohort II will be managed by the School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health. 

About PATH

PATH is the leader in global health innovation. An international nonprofit organisation, PATH saves lives and improves health, especially among women and children. PATH accelerates innovation across five platforms - vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, and system and service innovations—that harness our entrepreneurial insight, scientific and public health expertise, and passion for health equity. By mobilising partners around the world, PATH takes innovation to scale, working alongside countries primarily in Africa and Asia to tackle their greatest health needs. With these key partners, PATH delivers measurable results that disrupt the cycle of poor health.

Press Opportunity

The launch ceremony for EPI LAMP is planned for Monday, June 10 at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Yaounde.

Public Affairs contacts for each partner organisation:  

University of Yaounde I
M.Meka
Division des Affaires Administratives et Financières
+237698963088

Michael Greenwood
Director of Communications, Yale School of Public Health
Michael.greenwood@yale.edu
+1 203.737.5151

Available for media interview during the program launch: 

Professeur Jacqueline Ze Minkande
Doyen de la Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences Biomédicales
minkandeze@yahoo.fr
Université de Yaoundé I

Dr Marthe Sylvie Essengue Elouma
Regional Head, Francophone Africa
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Erika Linnander
Director, Global Health Leadership Initiative
Yale School of Public Health