Commits to Strengthening Capacity Across W/Africa.
Monrovia, Liberia – ECOWAS and the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have pledged to increase capacity throughout West Africa. At the conclusion of the workshop, the regional body also stated that it is anticipated that the following five stages, which are seen as a path ahead in the body’s best interests, will be agreed upon.
The anticipated five steps are to support network members’ RCCE capacity building, create and finalize an action plan for the ECOWAS Westen Africa RCCE Network 2025–2026, and jointly mobilize resources by the Africa CDC, ECOWAS RCSDC, and RCCE Network to support the implementation of the one-year Road Map from June 2025 to June 2026.
A small technical working group with Mpox knowledge and experience was created to help nations at risk of an increase in Mpox cases, and the Africa CDC and ECOWAS RCSDC were included to facilitate experience exchange across member states.
This commitment came at the conclusion of a three-day regional workshop on RCCE that was conducted in Monrovia and attended by government representatives, public health specialists, and communicators from the fifteen ECOWAS nations.
The goal of the workshop, which was conducted by Africa CDC in partnership with the West African Health Organization (WAHO) and the Ministry of Health of Liberia, was to improve regional preparedness and response to public health emergencies by means of efficient information sharing and community participation.
The Africa CDC Regional Director, Dr. Kokuo Alinon, stressed the importance of RCCE in fostering public confidence in times of health emergencies in his closing comments. He asserted that community involvement is the cornerstone of every effective disaster response and not only a tool.
According to Dr. Alinon, the workshop’s joint efforts will assist member nations in creating strong systems that understand, listen to, and include communities in their own health protection.
The ECOWAS representative also stated that RCCE stakeholders received training in 2019 and that ECOWAS is currently in talks with a sub-regional university to create a certified training program on risk communication and community engagement. The talks are still going on, and the body will be updated via the network.
“We will try our best to make sure that those who must be in the forefront of the reaction are represented in this network, but we are unable to go beyond the regulations of each particular state. Since you have to start again every time you have a new individual, we won’t keep beginning over. We will push the governments to acknowledge this, but in order for that to happen, you must also push and demonstrate your efforts in responding to the pandemic,” the ECOWAS delegate said.
She said that the necessity for coordinated communication tactics within the sub-region is highlighted by the lessons acquired from previous health catastrophes like COVID-19 and Ebola.
The director general of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) expressed gratitude to ECOWAS and Africa CDC for choosing Liberia as the host nation and reaffirmed the government’s resolve to fortify RCCE as a cornerstone of public health resilience.
The workshop’s participants examined RCCE procedures from recent disaster responses, found any gaps, and created action plans specific to their own countries. Training workshops on rumor monitoring, community feedback systems, and the use of conventional and social media during epidemics were also part of the program.
The next steps, which included creating a regional RCCE technical working group and creating a standardized RCCE training curriculum, were outlined by the community at the end of the session.
Stakeholders say this renewed commitment to RCCE is a major step toward a more inclusive and responsive public health system, especially as West Africa continues to face complex health issues, such as disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises.
