MUKHA Sharing and Learning Day
 
Around 70 members and diaspora from Myanmar and the UK participated in MUKHA’s first virtual event. The Permanent Secretary of the MoHS and Chair of MUKHA, Professor Thet Khaing Win, gave an opening speech. The objectives of the event were to:

1. Increase the visibility of the Alliance and raise awareness about its offering.
2. Engage Burmese diaspora to better understand their priorities and ability to lead/ champion health partnership work in the UK.
3. Encourage and stimulate ongoing and further engagement from UK partners.
4. Stimulate linkages and learning across the range of organisations already, or likely to be, engaging in health partnership work in Myanmar.

The event included two parts, the first of which started with presentations from Health Education England (HEE), the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), Brighter Future Foundation (BFF) and the thematic working groups’ presentations (Medical Education, Laboratory, Nursing and GP groups). The second part involved focus group discussions on the future of MUKHA. The event then closed with discussion and closing remarks from Professor Ian Cumming, co-chair of MUKHA.

The recommendations and key outcomes from the event will be incorporated into the MUKHA Impact Study report, which will guide the steering committee members as they establish the future direction of MUKHA.

Public Health England’s Key Activities

Public Health England’s program to strengthen Myanmar’s compliance with the International Health Regulations (IHR) continues to gain momentum despite travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. PHE supported three important events during December 2020.

The first was the Health Emergency Operation Centre (HEOC) needs assessment workshop delivered virtually on Zoom by the WHO and PSI. It was attended by 23 invited participants, including central and states and regional representatives. The workshop built on the HEOC assessment conducted by the WHO in 2018. The workshop’s key objectives were to i) explore opportunities for priority training and HEOC operationalisation based on gaps identified in the progress review; 2) develop a training matrix for the MoHS HEOC staff.



The second event was the successful delivery of the second instalment of a distance training course (using Google classroom) to colleagues from the Myanmar National Poisons Control Centre (NPCC) over two weeks in December 2020. The training course was a mixture of pre-recorded lectures, interactive live sessions and assessments. Coursework included contents on some of the top causes of poisoning in Myanmar, a refresher on accessing and interpreting toxicological information and applied skills such as poisoning monograph creation. The training was attended by 7 NPCC staff, two medical consultants from NYGH and 41 observers from the University of Medicine 1 and 2.



The third event involved a refresher training on diphtheria to enhance the capacity of the National Health Laboratory (NHL) and Public Health Laboratory (PHL) to respond to future diphtheria outbreaks. The training took place virtually on Microsoft Teams, and a total of 14 participants (10 from NHL and 4 from PHL) attended the training. The Deputy Director-General from the NHL, Professor Htay Htay Tin, provided an opening speech.

RCGP-Myanmar GP Society GP Quality Improvement Project

The RCGP-Myanmar GP Society Remote Quality improvement Project team completed their first 6 months of Quality Improvement Training in 4 localities: Mandalay, Meiktila, Toungoo and Pathein. 18 RCGP Trainers have been involved in this project and 65 Myanmar GPs have completed their training. This includes 2 streams of Quality improvement training:

Quality Champions Training

Quality Improvement Champions from Meiktila and Mandalay have been increasingly helpful assisting in the New GP Quality Improvement groups in Toungoo and Pathein. These are local Myanmar GPs who have completed the 1-year Quality Improvement Project in 2018 and are now attending the 6 months Quality Champions Training. Their involvement supports the project particularly in relation to group work. Interactive group work is particularly useful and can often be done in Burmese, however it is more difficult to support remotely – when face to face it is easier to spot and support groups that are struggling with the task – so having a QI Champion in the groups helps. Basic quality improvement groups are less used to the concept of group work, so the number of groups the RCGP is able to support during a Zoom meeting tends to be smaller. QI Champions also help with this.

Extension of the Remote QI Project to other localities in Myanmar

Discussions have started with GPs in Sitwee, Rakhine State and an introductory Zoom meeting between the RCGP and GPs in Sittwe was held on the 9/1/21 and so far 13 GPs have expressed an interest. The next meeting to start the 6 month course is planned for the 6^th February 2021. Depending on the capacity of RCGP Trainers, we are also looking into setting up a new QI Training Group in Yangon.

Other Activities

Membership of the closed MGPS/RCGP QI Facebook page has risen to 612 GPs as of January 2021, and resources including RCGP COVID-19 pages have been signposted on the page.

A nationwide webinar took place on the 15^th of November 2020 which focused on the role of General Practice in the Covid Pandemic in the UK and Myanmar and enabled participants to shre experiences and learning from each other. An additional webinar is planned for early February 2021.

Prosperity Fund Better Health Programme Working Group Virtual Meeting

On 18th January, the BHP Working Group Meeting was virtually undertaken. After the governance meeting was approved by MoHS in the last quarter of 2020, this was the first time that all associated stakeholders of BHP were brought together for a wider discussion on Year 1 (2020) progress and Year 2 (2021) work plans. MoHS chaired the meeting; and attendees were MoHS partners, Central Committee for Integrated Curriculum Development (CCICD), University partners and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) National Programmes. 

The objectives of the working group are to provide strategic direction for the PF BHP Myanmar; to contribute towards development of policies and strategies to tackle NCD burden and health inequalities; to steer technical and professional support from all related 
government departments and/or agencies for the proposed work streams and packages; to oversee progress and conduct periodic reviews on implementation of BHP and to provide supportive recommendations to Global BHP Delivery Board to achieve the programme’s objectives. 

Overall, the work progress in Year 1 and a range of challenges and issues were widely discussed by the attendees. The group in general recognised the BHP support towards education and training improvement for pre-service providers as well as continuous professional development for in-service providers, and NCD strategies including data strategy and national monitoring framework. In addition, Year 2 plans were broadly consulted and received a range of suggestions and feedback to be in line with health system needs and existing work of key stakeholders. Finally, next steps were identified and subsequent meetings agreed to enable continuous discussions and ensure the programme achieve its aims.