14th AAVC

14^th Annual African Vaccinology Course: 12-17 November 2018

2018 marked the 14^th consecutive year that VACFA has conducted the Annual African Vaccinology Course (AAVC). We received 260 applications from which, 62 participants representing 30 African countries were selected and fully funded to attend the 14th AAVC.The course was very successful. We received excellent feedback from the participants on the overall organization of the course.  

The course was convened by Prof. Gregory Hussey, Dr. Benjamin Kagina and Dr. Rudzani Muloiwa. There were 34 faculty members (local and international) who gave talks at the course. The faculty members were from academic institutions, not for profit organizations and the pharma.

The aims of the 14^th AAVC were:

1. Provide participants with essential expertise to support national immunization programmes
2. Broaden the understanding of the challenges and opportunities in vaccinology at regional and global levels
3. Build sustainable research capacity for vaccine development and conducting high quality phase I-IV vaccine trials in Africa
4. Foster communication and networking among African vaccinologists
5. Discuss the feasibility of vaccinology e-learning in Africa
6. Discuss the roles, challenges and opportunities for capacity building for the members of National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) in Africa

Highlights during the 14^th AAVC included opportunities for the participants to share country-specific experiences and to network with the faculty members. Participants were very happy with the online pre-course reading that was aimed at priming them with basic vaccinology knowledge prior the 5-day face to face training.The online pre-course reading is a partnership between VACFA and Immunopaedia that started in 2017. The goal is to eventually make it mandatory for all future attendees of the AAVC to complete the online pre-course reading prior attending the face to face training.

A workshop for NITAGs was also held between 16-17 November 2018. Members of NITAGs from 9 African countries participated in the workshop.The workshop provided a unique opportunity for NITAG members to share their country experiences, including achievements and challenges. Representatives from WHO (AFRO and Headquarters) facilitated the discussions during the workshop together with the VACFA team. Impressively, some new strategies on supporting members of NITAGs were discussed.

With the exception of a few participants from the sponsors, all participants attending  the 14th AAVC were fully funded through grants obtained by VACFA from the following sponsors: GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi Pasteur and the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Page created on 19 June 2018

Page last updated on 10 December 2018