Workshop: Capacity building in public health in Northern Africa. A common effort to develop training programmes

Abstract

Abstract Background In the years that have followed the overthrow of the former autocratic regime and the democratization of the country, the CONFIDE partner country, Tunisia, has experienced positive political and economic changes. These changes have driven important reforms in the field of public health, yet this country is facing important challenges in building a modern health system and finding an integrate approach to the main national public health problems. In terms of health research system, in Tunisia there is little coordination between stakeholders and the institutions in charge of public health. Moreover, there is no specific mechanism for informing the Ministry of Health about the progress of research in Tunisia and overall there is no structure responsible for the dissemination of research results to the public. To this end, the European and Tunisian members of this consortium have designed together the present capacity building project which aims to inform public health policies in Tunisia based on evidence and contribute to the development of public health research. The CONFIDE project is contributing to the development of the public health field in Tunisia and provides knowhow and tools to the Tunisian public health professions to better collaborate with the local stakeholders. Aim of the workshop The aim of this workshop is to share the experience of the capacity building process in the public health field in Northern Africa. The workshop will discuss and analyse the structure of opportunities for change and reform and the local needs of the public health domain in Tunisia and will identify the main challenges. We will present the processes used and challenges faced, but also the ways to overcome these challenges. This workshop will contribute to the European Public Health field by increasing the visibility at European level of the efforts directed to capacity building interventions and at transferring knowhow outside Europe, specifically Northern Africa. Program The introduction to the workshop will be made by Prof. Razvan Chereches MD, PhD, Professor of Public Health and coordinator of the CONFIDE project. He will describe the methodology used for the capacity building in public health trainings programme in Tunisia. The development of the Centre for Evidence Based Public Health in Tunisia and their impact on the Tunisian local and regional levels will be presented by Prof. Fatma Cheikhrouhou. The link between the knowledge transferred to the young professionals and the policy decision makers will be described by the Tunisian coordinator of the dissemination activities, Prof. Kalthoum Kallel. MScPH Maria Palianopoulou will follow with presenting the evaluation results of the capacity building process and lessons learnt. Last but not least, the sustainability of the trainings and the local effort to integrate the knowledge into the Medical University curricula will be presented by Assistant Prof. Mohamed ben Rejeb. Key messages Discussing lessons learnt can contribute to better tools for the development of public health. Partners` perspective and culturally adapted tools are important for high quality learning process.