Secondment to World Health Organization results valuable experience for epidemiologist

Moa has been affiliated to the research group Global Disaster Medicine – Health Needs and Response since 2017.  The group collaborates closely with the Centre for Health Crises. It is through them that Moa’s secondment has been conducted. The Centre is a member of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and when they were looking for staff to work at the Regional Centre for Health Emergencies in Amman, the Centre put Moa forward. 

In an interview just a week after she began her secondment, Moa described how her first task in her new job was going to be generating a landscape analysis of existing Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) in the region, which she did, and then presented at a regional WHO workshop, followed by concrete technical support to FETPs in the region. But she has also done a lot more. 

–  In addition to working with the FETPs, I have prepared and delivered consultative workshops as part of the early development stages of creating National Public Health Institutes in Yemen and Kuwait. These workshops led to the creation of concrete action plans for institutionalising national public health agencies, which is an important step in further strengthening the public health infrastructure in both countries, with a special focus on health emergency management, she says.

She has also been seconded to the Ministry of Health in Kuwait during her last month of GOARN mission. She was working at the Department of Planning and Health Development. During the month-long placement in Kuwait, Moa was tasked to draft Kuwait’s first National Health Strategy, based upon landscape analysis and multi-stakeholder consultations. By the end of the mission, the Kuwait Ministry of Health expressed their gratitude to both Moa and Karolinska Institutet, for what they had done, and also expressed interest to continue the collaboration. 

Valuable knowledge and exposure to new tools

Moa thinks the last six months have taught her a lot: 

–  It has definitely deepened my understanding of regional health emergencies. And I have learnt a lot about facilitating collaboration with a diverse array of national and regional experts. In general, I think the whole experience has provided me with valuable knowledge and exposure to tools that can benefit the work we do in the research group, the Centre, and perhaps even more broadly at KI. 

Secondments bring dual benefits

Bringing knowledge and experience back, along with having been exposed to other contexts and ways of working, is a key aspect of why the Centre for Health Crises values secondments as one of their work methods. As the director of the Centre, Johan von Schreeb, explains:

– Through the secondments we help make sure that expertise and skills we have here at KI can reach where they are needed, either in ongoing health emergencies or as in Moa’s case, working with health emergency preparedness and response. At the same time, the people we second bring very valuable experiences back to KI, that I firmly believe improves our education and our research. 

Moa’s secondment has now officially ended. She will continue to work with the WHO’s Regional Centre for Health Emergencies in Amman, with the first task being a mission to Yemen to support in country multi-stakeholder consultations to formalise the Yemen National Public Health Agency. She will also remain affiliated with and contribute to the work of the research group Global Disaster Medicine and work with the Centre for Health Crises.