Ifakara Health Institute’s Interventions and Clinical Trials (ICT) department hosted a two-day meeting on September 26 and 27, 2022, in Morogoro. The meeting, which was attended by staff from Ifakara, Bagamoyo and Dar es Salaam offices, discussed the department’s annual operational plans and the progress of ongoing projects.

ICT department head, Dr. Ally Olutu, chaired the meeting along with Ifakara Senior Research Scientist, Dr. Jerry Hella. A total of 28 staff attended the meeting in person at the Flomi Hotel in Morogoro while 24 others joined virtually.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Olutu gave a general overview of the department, focusing on the research group’s portfolio, and shared the meeting objectives.

Among the list of items of discussion in the meeting included the annual operational plan (AOP) for the ICTs department and ongoing projects within the department.

Various Ifakara researchers were given the opportunity to briefly present on their projects. A total of 29 projects were presented during the meeting which included the projects under the Chronic Diseases Clinic of Ifakara (CDCI) on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Non-communicable diseases (NCDs); projects under the Clinical Trials Facility, in Bagamoyo and other ongoing projects in Dar es Salaam.

In the final session of the meeting, the ICT department invited Ifakara’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Supply Chain Manager, ICT manager, Grants Accountant, Grants Manager, Laboratory Manager and branch managers.

Together, they discussed new projects and grants in the pipeline, achievements, major challenges and way forward, paper writing and publications and capacity-building plans.

The meeting was concluded with a discussion session which allowed all the invited participants to ask questions, and share comments and recommendations pertaining to any item addressed during the two-day meeting in Morogoro.