Training in development and use of Growing Season Onset and Downscaled Seasonal Forecast Maprooms, Kigali, Rwanda, March 2017

In March 2017, a training was provided in Rwanda as part of the Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture project, a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded initiative that seeks to improve agricultural planning and food security management in the face of a variable and changing climate at both local and government levels. The project addresses both supply- and demand-side capacity regarding climate information. On the supply side, it is enhancing Rwanda Meteorology Agency (Meteo Rwanda)’s capacity to provide climate information tailored to agricultural needs by helping develop high-quality merged gridded historic datasets and an expanding suite of derived online products. Training participants included CIAT, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), the Rwanda Agricultural Board, and Meteo Rwanda on using downscaled seasonal forecasts. The training focused on using and understanding the new Historical Onset Date Maproom and the Seasonal Forecast Maproom

Workshop report: Training program on ENACTS climate time series, data library and maprooms, Kigali, Rwanda

Meteo Rwanda, in collaboration with the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), has implemented the first phase of the ENACTS (Enhancing National Climate Services) initiative. The ENACTS initiative brings climate knowledge into national decisionmaking by improving availability, access and use of climate information. Meteo Rwanda staff has received a number of trainings on the different aspects of generating the datasets and developing climate information products. However, due to the recent reorganization at Meteo Rwanda, as well as updates to the tools used to generate historical data and information products, it was necessary to revise the training and update climate data and information products. The current activities, which are part of CCAFS-USAID Climate Services for Agriculture project, had two major components: (1) data quality control and generating updated climate datasets; and (2) integrating the newly generated datasets into Meteo Rwanda’s maprooms. Sixteen Meteo Rwanda staff members received six days of training on data quality control and generating updated climate datasets, and/or 4.5 days of training on developing and maintaining ENACTS maprooms

ENACTS, Data Library, Maproom and GIS Training at Rwanda Meteorological Agency, Kigali, Rwanda, July 2016

This report describes a training visit to the Rwanda Meteorological Agency (Meteo Rwanda), 21-29 July 2016, aimed at increasing staff technical capacity to understand and the ENACTS 10-day, monthly, and newly created daily data. Objectives were to: (a) train Meteo Rwanda staff on ENACTS data, the Data Library software, Maprooms, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS); (b) install the ENACTS Daily rainfall dataset and Maproom; create a backup of the Data Library system, and install a second Data Library with Maprooms for internal Meteo access. The report concludes with a set of recommendations to continue to strengthen ENACTS at Meteo Rwanda, based on interactions during the training visit

Training on ENACTS Data Library and Maproom software

This report describes training activities in Kigali, Rwanda, January 2018, led by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)’s John del Corral. The training visit was part of the Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture project – a four-year initiative (2016-2019) funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that seeks to transform Rwanda’s rural farming communities and national economy through climate services and improved climate risk management. The purpose of the visit was install the ENACTS Data Library and Maproom software on a new, faster server at the Rwanda Meteorological Agency as well as train IT staff and meteorology staff in the installation and management of the ENACTS Data Library server. The topic of updating and adding datasets to the ENACTS Data Library was also covered during the training

Gaining Competitive Advantage in The European Pharmaeutical Generics Market

The aim of this study is to examine the necessary elements of competitive advantage for a global pharmaceutical company as it embarks on its launch into 16 European generics market. The academic base explores five of Vargo and Lusch’s Service Dominant-logic foundational premises and the actions that must be taken for the company to move from a market to relational exchange level. The project is divided into two key deliverables, the first one being an environmental scanning to understand the market and hospital’s purchasing process, and the second one a further research into 4 main areas involved in the process of customer value creation. The environmental scanning includes assessment of external market factors and internal characteristics that provide a careful understanding of the business environment, its key decision makers, buying structure and the political nuances affecting the industry at large. This study tells the story of generic drugs from production to consumption, who to influence and how to do it. The second part explores four areas, three on the marketing literature and one on corporate social responsibility, all with the goal of identifying aspects to co-create value with hospital decision makers and to help PharmCo gaining competitive advantage through higher collaboration in between buyer and supplier. These include stakeholder analysis, trust and relationships building, customer value creation through enhanced product and service attributes, and sales force deployment and development. Final conclusions bundle the markets into archetypes, according to their similarities and requirements for value co-creation, and cross the results from the individual studies within the SD-logic foundational premises

IRI Data Library: enhancing accessibility of climate knowledge

Background: Climate variability affects a broad swath of socio-economic sectors, and if it increases or the sector becomes overly-tuned to past or present climate conditions, climate variability becomes of increasing concern to a wide range of non-climate specialists. The significant challenges to building the capacity of non-climate specialists to use climate information in research and decision-making include the difficulties in accessing relevant and timely quality-controlled data and information in formats that can be readily incorporated into specific analysis and reporting. Methods: The IRI Data Library is a facility designed to cope with these issues of information dissemination. Methods developed include Map Rooms which are designed for rapid access to needed information for particular user groups, analysis tools useful for a wide range of users (especially while training), and a metadata framework that uses semantic technologies to transform metadata from a variety of sources into a variety of standards. Results: The results are tools to merge standard climate products with GIS information (e.g. averaging climate data over the political boundaries used to geolocate health and socio-economic data), as well as simplified access/transformation of large datasets only available as collections of many files or service points elsewhere. Conclusions: The IRI Data Library is thus a key platform that makes climate and other data products more widely accessible through tool development, data organization and transformation, and data/technology transfer

Improving Decision-Making Activities for Meningitis and Malaria

Public health professionals are increasingly concerned about the potential impact that climate variability and change can have on infectious disease. The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) is developing new products to increase the public health community's capacity to understand, use and demand the appropriate climate data and climate information to mitigate the public health impacts of climate on infectious disease, in particular meningitis and malaria. In this paper, we present the new and improved products that have been developed for: (i) estimating dust aerosol for forecasting risks of meningitis and (ii) for monitoring temperature and rainfall and integrating them into a vectorial capacity model for forecasting risks of malaria epidemics. We also present how the products have been integrated into a knowledge system (IRI Data Library Map Room, SERVIR) to support the use of climate and environmental information in climate-sensitive health decision-making

Bridging critical gaps in climate services and applications in Africa

Sound climate risk management requires access to the best available decision-relevant climate information and the ability to use such information effectively. The availability and access of such information and the ability to use it is challenging, particularly throughout rural Africa. A gap analysis published by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) in 2005 explored these challenges in detail and identified four key gaps: (i) gaps in integration of climate into policy; (ii) gaps in integration of climate into practice at scale; (iii) gaps in climate services; and (iv) gaps in climate data. Though this document was published nearly nine years ago, the gaps it highlighted are still relevant today. In the last decade, IRI has been making efforts to address these critical issues in a systematic way through projects and partnerships in Africa. This paper describes IRI’s efforts in Ethiopia, a country particularly prone to climate related risks. Here we outline a creative solution to bridge the gaps in the availability, access and use of national climate information through the Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative. We then discuss how policy and practice has changed as a result of IRI engagement in the development of climate services in the water, public health and agricultural sectors. The work in Ethiopia is indicative of the efforts IRI is implementing in other countries in Africa and in other parts of the world

IFNγ Response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Risk of Infection and Disease in Household Contacts of Tuberculosis Patients in Colombia

OBJECTIVES: Household contacts (HHCs) of pulmonary tuberculosis patients are at high risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and early disease development. Identification of individuals at risk of tuberculosis disease is a desirable goal for tuberculosis control. Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) using specific M. tuberculosis antigens provide an alternative to tuberculin skin testing (TST) for infection detection. Additionally, the levels of IFNgamma produced in response to these antigens may have prognostic value. We estimated the prevalence of M. tuberculosis infection by IGRA and TST in HHCs and their source population (SP), and assessed whether IFNgamma levels in HHCs correlate with tuberculosis development. METHODS: A cohort of 2060 HHCs was followed for 2-3 years after exposure to a tuberculosis case. Besides TST, IFNgamma responses to mycobacterial antigens: CFP, CFP-10, HspX and Ag85A were assessed in 7-days whole blood cultures and compared to 766 individuals from the SP in Medellín, Colombia. Isoniazid prophylaxis was not offered to child contacts because Colombian tuberculosis regulations consider it only in children under 5 years, TST positive without BCG vaccination. RESULTS: Using TST 65.9% of HHCs and 42.7% subjects from the SP were positive (OR 2.60, p<0.0001). IFNgamma response to CFP-10, a biomarker of M. tuberculosis infection, tested positive in 66.3% HHCs and 24.3% from the SP (OR = 6.07, p<0.0001). Tuberculosis incidence rate was 7.0/1000 person years. Children <5 years accounted for 21.6% of incident cases. No significant difference was found between positive and negative IFNgamma responders to CFP-10 (HR 1.82 95% CI 0.79-4.20 p = 0.16). However, a significant trend for tuberculosis development amongst high HHC IFNgamma producers was observed (trend Log rank p = 0.007). DISCUSSION: CFP-10-induced IFNgamma production is useful to establish tuberculosis infection prevalence amongst HHC and identify those at highest risk of disease. The high tuberculosis incidence amongst children supports administration of chemoprophylaxis to child contacts regardless of BCG vaccination

Malaria Stratification, Climate, and Epidemic Early Warning in Eritrea

Eritrea has a successful malaria control program, but it is still susceptible to devastating malaria epidemics. Monthly data on clinical malaria cases from 242 health facilities in 58 subzobas (districts) of Eritrea from 1996 to 2003 were used in a novel stratification process using principal component analysis and nonhierarchical clustering to define five areas with distinct malaria intensity and seasonality patterns, to guide future interventions and development of an epidemic early warning system. Relationships between monthly clinical malaria incidence by subzoba and monthly climate data from several sources, and with seasonal climate forecasts, were investigated. Remotely sensed climate data were averaged over the same subzoba geographic administrative units as the malaria cases. Although correlation was good between malaria anomalies and actual rainfall from ground stations (lagged by 2 months), the stations did not have sufficiently even coverage to be widely useful. Satellite derived rainfall from the Climate Prediction Center Merged Analysis of Precipitation was correlated with malaria incidence anomalies, with a lead time of 2–3 months. NDVI anomalies were highly correlated with malaria incidence anomalies, particularly in the semi-arid north of the country and along the northern Red Sea coast, which is a highly epidemic-prone area. Eritrea has 2 distinct rainy seasons in different parts of the country. The seasonal forecasting skill from Global Circulation Models for the June/July/August season was low except for the Eastern border. For the coastal October/November/December season, forecasting skill was good only during the 1997–1998 El Niño event. For epidemic control, shorter-range warning based on remotely sensed rainfall estimates and an enhanced epidemic early-detection system based on data derived for this study are needed