Events Calendar

How can researchers work effectively with an AI coding agent—and critically evaluate its results? Join us for an interactive Hackathon demonstrating a practical approach to using an AI coding agent in scientific research. Using epidemic forecasting as a hands-on example, the session will focus on the research workflow: framing questions, giving instructions, reviewing code, challenging assumptions, and evaluating results. Starting with the first eight observations, recorded at two-week intervals, from a real measles outbreak, participants will work with the instructor using OpenAI Codex to explore the data, identify missing information, consider up to three candidate models, and forecast the remaining eight observations. The modelling exercise will provide a practical setting for examining how researchers and AI coding agents can work together, with human scientific judgment guiding each stage. Before revealing the withheld observations, we will agree on the evaluation criteria and finalise the forecasts and their uncertainty estimates. This will allow us to assess predictions against observations that were unavailable during the analysis, demonstrating the difference between genuine forecasting and fitting models to data we have already seen. We will then discuss what worked, what failed, and how assumptions shaped the results.

In January 2024, Cabo Verde became the third African country to be certified malaria-free by WHO. Join us as Dr. Adilson José de Pina, one of the people behind that achievement, shares how it was done: the surveillance, the leadership, the partnerships, and the hard lessons. Adilson will also cover what it takes to stay malaria-free. This seminar follows Cabo Verde's path from repeated malaria outbreaks to more than three consecutive years with zero indigenous cases, and then through the WHO certification process. The speaker will cover: - What drove success: political commitment, strong national leadership, effective surveillance, rapid case investigation and response, integrated vector control, and multisectoral collaboration. - Key lessons: resilient surveillance systems, community engagement, evidence-based decision-making, and sustained investment. - Staying malaria-free: preventing re-establishment despite population mobility, climate change, and continued risk of imported cases. The session offers practical insights for African countries working toward malaria elimination and certification.

The presentation highlights the role of the Laafi Ton (community health clubs) in implementing the seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMCP) campaign in the village of Beun, located in the Léo health district. The main objectives of these clubs are to raise awareness among households about malaria prevention, to monitor targeted children, and to mobilize the community around health initiatives. Organizationally, each club consists of 15 members, including facilitators responsible for administering medication and health inspectors responsible for raising awareness and collecting empty blister packs. The results presented are encouraging: 491 children were treated—representing a reported coverage rate of 100%—and 100% of the empty blister packs were collected. The clubs also contribute to environmental sanitation, mobilizing women for family planning, and income-generating activities, particularly community gardens. However, challenges remain, particularly the lack of community gardens in two clubs and the need to ensure transparent management of the income generated. The presentation therefore recommends supporting clubs that do not yet have plots of land and strengthening transparency in resource management. In conclusion, the Laafi Ton de Beun clubs are an important lever for community mobilization, monitoring children during the CPS, and strengthening local health activities. Ensuring their sustainability requires tailored support and equitable incentive mechanisms.

Next-generation malaria interventions are advancing faster than the systems expected to deliver them. Effective products alone are not sufficient: countries also need the institutional capacity to regulate, finance, procure, distribute and monitor new tools sustainably. The Africa Readiness Index is a multi-domain framework assessing national preparedness across governance, regulatory capacity, supply chain infrastructure, health workforce readiness, domestic financing, pharmacovigilance and political commitment. Applied across ten high-burden African countries, it reveals a structural inversion the countries carrying the greatest malaria burden score lowest on readiness, with domestic financing consistently the weakest domain. This presentation introduces the framework, discusses its country-level findings, and considers how readiness assessment can help governments, funders, product developers and implementation partners identify and address system bottlenecks before new interventions arrive. his presentation is in English and there will be real time interpretation into French. Participants can also activate the CAPTIONS feature on Zoom for translation into their language of choice.

Transforming epidemiological data into useful information for decision-making is essential to strengthening public-health surveillance. This presentation explores the journey “from database to decision,” highlighting how the systematic organisation, analysis and interpretation of data can generate evidence to identify trends, detect warning signals, characterise epidemiological patterns and guide public-health responses. The presentation will introduce key principles and practical examples of epidemiological data analysis, covering the process from data quality assessment and preparation to the production of indicators, visualisations and interpretations that support timely decision-making. It will emphasise how high-quality data, when appropriately analysed and transformed into actionable information, can contribute to surveillance systems that are more efficient, responsive and evidence-based. This presentation is in Portuguese only and registered participants can activate the CAPTIONS feature on Zoom for translation in their language of choice.