The workshop held from September 16 to 19, 2025, is being attended by health professionals from 15 West African countries, who are sharing best practices and building collaborative networks to improve the region’s preparedness for health emergencies.

It is coordinated by the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Western Regional Coordinating Centre in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.

The use of a collaborative approach aims to ensure that communication strategies are not only technically sound but also culturally appropriate and community-driven, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of public health interventions across West Africa.

Mrs Mabel Kissiwah Asafo, Deputy Director at the Health Promotion Division of the Ghana Health Service, speaking at the opening of the workshop, said the meeting would serve as a launchpad for leveraging best practices across the continent.
She noted that in the face of emerging and re-emerging health threats, including Mpox, and Ebola, and the cyclical outbreaks of Cholera and Measles, it was important for the region to have a collective response.

“No single institution, country, or sector can navigate these challenges in isolation. It is through coordinated action, shared intelligence, and cross-border solidarity that we build resilience and ensure that no community is left behind,” she said.

Mrs Asafo said the workshop would provide that platform to sharpen technical skills, strengthen behavioural insights, and reinforce the ability of health professionals to translate science into trust in managing disease outbreaks and health emergencies.

She encouraged participants to learn from and adopt innovative approaches that had emerged from Africa, including community-driven rumour management initiatives in Sierra Leone and digital listening tools developed in Kenya.
She stated that by embedding deep insights into interventions, including understanding the fears, beliefs and behaviours that shaped public response, “we move beyond assumptions and design strategies that are culturally resonant and community owned.”

Dr Elphas Ojiambo, Partnership Officer at Africa CDC’s Western Regional Coordinating Centre, underscored the critical importance of regional collaboration given West Africa’s population of 400 million people and the associated health communication challenges.

Dr Ojiambo emphasised that weakness in any single country’s health communication capacity could undermine outbreak response efforts across the entire region, highlighting the interconnected nature of health security in West Africa.

“Regional coordination is essential for effective health emergency response across the region as it will enable health professionals and other stakeholders to move beyond political boundaries and focus on health security needs,” he said.

Dr Adunola Oyegoke, Technical Officer for Planning at Africa CDC Western Regional Coordinating Centre, reiterated the workshop’s focus on risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) planning during outbreak response.

She said the training prioritised skills development in collecting, analysing, and utilising community feedback and social listening data for evidence-based decision making, including experience-sharing sessions where participants would present their approaches to RCCE planning and implementation.

“These presentations are designed to facilitate learning across borders and promote collaboration between member states, regional organisations like ECOWAS, and international partners working to improve health security,” she stated.

She noted that the focus on community engagement and social listening acknowledged that technical interventions alone were insufficient without community trust and participation.
She urged participants to leverage experiences from the training to enhance the region’s approach to improving risk communication and community engagement strategies to effectively manage disease outbreaks and health emergencies.