Project consortium
Consortium and members
In collaboration with University of Münster and University of Freiburg, and University of Livingstonia and Mzuzu University in Malawi, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) leads a consortium of these five partners in the implementation of a pandemic preparedness (NOGZEKA) project aimed at establishing a Master of Science in Public Health with a focus on Infectious Disease Epidemiology. This academic program will be implemented at University of Livingstonia and Mzuzu University in Malawi. NOZGEKA is funded by DAAD. After successful completion of the training program, graduates shall be qualified to perform high standard epidemiological studies and infectious diseases modelling, as well as effectively leading public health responses in times of epidemics or pandemics as well routine endemic diseases control programs in Malawi and beyond.
The University of Livingstonia
The University of Livingstonia leads in the establishment of the Master program in Malawi. University of Livingstonia (UNILIA), owned by the Church of Central African Presbyterian (CCAP), was opened in 2003, is part of the synod of Livingstonia and is essential in the higher education structure of the North of Malawi. Its three constituent colleges at Livingstonia (Laws Campus), Ekwendeni (Ekwendeni campus) and Mzuzu (Kaning’ina campus). As of now, the university has graduated fourteen cohorts of students. Over the years, the university has expanded to over 2000 students from the three campuses listed above. Among the faculties are Applied Sciences, Education, Social Sciences, Theology, Agribusiness and Business and Communication. Within the faculty of Applied Sciences, the department of Public Health was established in 2012. Since its establishment, the department has been offering a bachelor’s degree program; Bachelor of Science degree program in Public Health (BPH), and recently, the faculty started a postgraduate program in Global Sanitation (Master of Science in Global Sanitation).
Mzuzu University
The second partner in Malawi is Mzuzu University (MZUNI). Mzuzu is a governmental University founded in 1999. The faculty of Health Sciences at the University offers bachelor’s degrees in nursing, Optometry and Biomedical Sciences. The joint master program will be integrated within the departments of Nursing and Biomedical Sciences at the University.
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)
The Department of Epidemiology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) has experience in the conduct of large epidemiological studies within epidemic contexts as well as epidemic modelling. HZI is also providing digital surveillance software to regions and countries for infectious disease surveillance (SORMAS) and has experience working together with public health surveillance. A PhD Epidemiology is offered at the HZI in collaboration with the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover. While there is a course program for the PhD on site in Braunschweig, there is a history of students performing the field part of their PhD within their country of origin. This PhD would be a natural progression for those students looking for academic opportunities after the Master course we are currently establishing in Malawi.
University Hospital Freiburg
The University Hospital Freiburg (UKF) is the teaching hospital within the Medical Faculty of the University of Freiburg. Today the university comprises of three campuses in the city of Freiburg. UKF engages in patient health care, research, and teaching. With around 10,000 employees, the Medical Center – University of Freiburg is among the largest university medical centres in Germany. Around 1,200 doctors and more than 2,900 nurses provide care to more than 64,000 inpatients and around 580,000 outpatients per year. The Hospital engages in research, teaching, and healthcare as its core responsibilities, always with the goal of offering its patients treatment informed by the latest scientific findings – today and in the future. For instance, the clinic for Internal Medicine II provides services in the areas of gastroenterology, hepatology, endocrinology and infectiology, and specifically this consortium involves the division of infectious diseases. This is a division that exists within the internal medicine department II and combines clinical work, research and teaching in infectious diseases and travel medicine. The division is led by a team of renowned experts in infectious diseases.
University of Münster
The third partner is the Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine at the University of Münster (Uni MS). The Institute has a longstanding expertise in infectious disease epidemiology, both in infectious disease modelling and in large-scale observational studies (e.g., NAKO Health study, COVIMOD study). The researchers at the institute are responsible for teaching infectious disease epidemiology and mathematical modelling of infectious diseases in all Master courses for Epidemiology in Germany, and the team have been running an international course on Global Health since 2018. Additionally, they participate in the development of a national curriculum of infectious disease epidemiology in Germany.
