These developments have been under the 10 points in the EuroSafe Call for Action below:
ACTION 1: CLINICAL IMAGING GUIDELINES
Development of a 3 year-logical framework for the adoption and adaption of clinical Imaging guidelines (CIG) in Africa organized and sponsored by the IAEA.
Members of the AFROSAFE steering committee Participated in the development of a logical framework for the adoption and adaption of clinical imaging guidelines organized and sponsored by the IAEA and held in Vienna in September 2016 under RAF9059.
This meeting was preceded by two prior workshops sponsored by the IAEA,
in Egypt (Dec 2015) and Vienna (March 2016) aimed at the implementation of CIG in Africa.
The final resolution from these meetings was to adopt and adapt the existing RCR and French Society of Radiology CIG.
The September workshop outlined objectives,
activities,
resources and verification indications for the process of adoption and adaption of CIG. AFROSAFE is grateful to the IAEA for organizing and sponsoring this workshop.
A second meeting to finalize the strategy for adoption of CIG will be held February 5 to 11th 2017 in Cairo,
Egypt.
In-country activities for awareness on CIG
Several countries in Africa; Egypt,
Algeria,
Uganda,
Kenya have conducted activities for creating awareness among referrers and medical imaging practitioners on the use of CIG.
The Uganda Chapter of AFROSAFE has conducted CMEs on the application of CIG in several major hospitals.
Research Projects
Research is underway to investigate the impact of CRG in paediatric imaging appropriateness in Uganda (?)
ACTION 3: OPTIMIZATION OF DIAGNOSTIC REFERENCE LEVELS (DRLS)
Research is underway in several countries to derive institutional DRLs for general radiography and CT,
which will be the basis for deriving national DRLs.
The findings will be shared at the next PACORI meeting in February 2017,
Dar-es- salaam Tanzania.
ACTION 6: EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN MEDICAL RADIATION PROTECTION
Several African regional and national professional societies have dedicated a full session within their scientific meetings to AFROSAFE with the aim of strengthening education and training in radiation safety.
PACORI the founding body for AFROSAFE will have a half-day session dedicated to AFROSAFE at its next meeting in February 2017.
Imaging professional societies in Algiers,
Kenya and Uganda held sessions dedicated to AFROSAFE at the 2016 International Day of Radiology and in subsequent meetings.
ACTION 11: COOPERATION WITH INTERNATIONAL RADIATION PROTECTION INITIATIVES (IMPLEMENTING THE BSS)
With support from IAEA,
there have been several activities aimed at strengthening the implementation of the BSS in Africa and AFROSAFE has been involved. In October 2016,
at the Kenya Radiographers Association meeting (RASCO),
AFROSAFE’s participation in this meeting aimed at strengthening the BSS.
ACTION 12: IMPROVED PATIENT COMMUNICATION
The WHO tool “Communication Radiation Risks in Paediatric Imaging: Information to Support Health Care Discussions about Benefit and Risk” was published this year and is accessible as a free download at http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/pub_meet/radiation-risks-paediatric-imaging/en/ . This document is intended to be a tool for health care providers to communicate about risks associated with paediatric imaging procedures. AFROSAFE is promoting this tool to radiologists,
clinicians and radiographers as well as other stake holders so as to enhance radiation risk communication between health practitioners and the patients. The societies that participated in writing this tool included ASR,
PACORI,
FAMPO,
AfSPI,
ISRRT among others.
There was training on the use of this tool at the Uganda Society for Imaging (USOFARI) 2016 annual scientific meeting when marking the International Day of Radiology in November 2016.
Other activities outside the EuroSafe Call for Action,
but within the promotion of radiation safety:
STRENGTHENING RADIATION SAFETY CULTURE IN HEALTH CARE
In Algiers at the International Day of Radiology,
in November 2016,
AFROSAFE delivered sessions aimed at strengthening radiation safety culture in health care.
INTEGRATING FRENCH-SPEAKING AFRICA INTO AFROSAFE
AFROSAFE had its origin in English Speaking Africa.
In January 2016,
at the Maghrebine Congress of Radiology held in Algiers,
Algeria,
the integration of French Speaking Africa into AFROSAFE was inducted and these countries now have representation at the AFROSAFE steering committee.
The integration will be further consolidated this October in Paris at the French Society meeting.
There was a meeting for the Francophonic Black African Congress in April 2016 in Senegal at which AFROSAFE and its activities were disseminated.
There was also a meeting bringing together all the Presidents of the societies of radiology in French-speaking countries in October 2016,in Paris,
under the auspices of the French Society of Radiology with the objectives of forging cohesion,
and dissemination and implementation of radiation protection through the various safety campaigns including AFROSAFE.