My name is Hammed Mogaji and I am a Nigerian. My first degree was in biological sciences (with options in Zoology), and subsequent degrees (MSc and PhD) in Parasitology with a focus on Epidemiology. I hold a lecturing position at Federal University Oye-Ekiti, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Epidemiology at the Institute of Collective Health in Salvador, Brazil. My career in Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) started in 2012, where I worked with regional ministries of health through the platform of MITOSATH, a NGDO in Nigeria. I was privileged to travel and work in the most remote part of the country where NTDs are endemic. I have had first-hand experience with those that are mostly affected by these diseases. Since then, I have participated in various intervention and research activities on NTDs, including epidemiological mapping, coverage evaluation surveys, situational analysis, operational and implementation research among others.
Tell us about your ARNTD Grant and project.
Since 2012, I have managed a collaborative relationship with MITOSATH, and the NTD control department at the regional ministries of health where I worked, specifically in Ogun, Ekiti and Taraba and Niger States. This relationship kick-started research and advocacy activities, part of which involved understudying the 2019 programmatic data for schistosomiasis and Soil-transmitted helminth Mass Drug Administration (MDA) in Ekiti State. This activity revealed an underperforming district, with speculations of children who are consistently missed out of MDA campaigns in some communities. This facilitated an interest to investigate coverage and compliance, and identify missing or non-compliant children and associated factors. In addition, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health workers’ motivation in the drug supply chain also came up as an interesting hypothesis. As such, we designed a project titled “Impact of COVID-19 on mass drug administration campaigns targeting schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis: A post-lockdown evaluation of coverage, non-compliance and health workers motivation in some rural communities in Southwest Nigeria”. This project development benefited significantly from my involvement with iCHORDS. It will therefore be a joy to see its implementation over the next 12 months, with the overall aim of strengthening MDA delivery in these areas.
What you are looking forward to?
In the next few weeks, collaborators’ meetings will begin. On the team, we have experienced epidemiologists, social scientists, clinical psychologists, NTD programmers and policymakers. We also have a list of external supervisors from board members of ARNTD (Professor Uwem Ekpo) and iCHORDS (Dr. Alison Krentel) to provide contributions and guidance. As such, the team looks forward to an impactful year of research on the highlighted area of interest, for the communities, and district, and also on the team of research assistants we are recruiting. We aim to contribute to enhancing the capacity of these team members within the realm of NTD research and advocacy.
I am a very committed member of the iCHORDS team, especially the task team focusing on CDDs strengthening and support. The underlying aim of the funded project re-iterates the overall objective of the task team. The project aims to understand the characteristics and perceptions of children that are consistently missed during MDA campaigns, and explore other health system-related issues including those imposed by the pandemic on health workers’ motivation. The field implementation phase of the project will showcase some of the developed role plays from the iCHORDS task team to assist in strengthening the capacity of health workers and building their motivation towards an effective and efficient campaign.
