Training programmes/frameworks for congenital anomaly surveillance

A collection of freely available courses covering: coding, facilitating courses, surveillance methodology, implementation of programmes in low resource settings and developing strategies to prevent birth defects.

Ubomi Buhle Training Lessons

UBOMI BUHLE is a project in South Africa aimed at improving our understanding of what exposures during pregnancy, such as medicines, substances and diseases, can result in poor birth outcomes e.g. birth defects, low birth weight, stillbirth, premature birth and neonatal death. At the same time, the project aims at health system strengthening. A set of training lessons (powerpoint slides) cover the following:

Training Module 1 - Introduction to UBOMI BUHLE

Training Module 2 - How to take an accurate pregnancy exposure history and complete the MCR

Training Module 3 - Safer prescribing in pregnancy and common teratogenic medications

Training Module 4 - Methods of gestational dating

Training Module 5 - Congenital anomalies

Training Module 6 - How to examine a newborn or stillborn baby and record in the MCR

Training Module 7 - Introduction to counselling and bereavement support​ &​ Self care for carers​

Training Module 8 - Global Birth Defects App:​  UBOMI BUHLE version

Midwife Training Lessons | Ubomi Buhle Project

WHO ICD-10 Training Tool

This course provides an overview of ICD-10 coding and can be used by physicians and those in a managerial role alike.

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WHO Birth Defects Surveillance Training: Facilitator's Guide

The goal of this course is to provide participants with the foundational skills needed to begin the development, implementation and ongoing improvement of a congenital anomalies surveillance programme, in particular for countries with limited resources. It focuses on the methodology needed to develop either population-based or hospital based surveillance programmes.  A set of congenital anomalies will be used as examples throughout this course. The specific examples used are typically severe enough that they would probably be captured within the first few days after birth, have a significant public health impact and, for some of them, have the potential for primary prevention.

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ICBDSR Online Self-Paced Course on Birth Defect Surveillance and Prevention

The New edition: extensively revised and expanded, with videos, quizzes, discussion forum, and publications/resources. Developed for clinicians, epidemiologists, public health professionals, and anyone interested in understanding birth defects and improving their prevention and care. Self-paced: go at your own pace, in your own time zone, on your schedule. Developed by the International Center on Birth Defects (ICBD) and supported in part by funding from the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through Agreement 2016-2017 with Task Force for Global Health. Language: English and Spanish versions.

Topics include:

  • The newborn exam (focus on congenital anomalies)
  • Selected major birth defects: from embryology to surveillance and prevention
  • Congenital infections as teratogens
  • Teratogenic medications and exposures
  • Short course on microcephaly (clinical evaluation, neuroimaging, genetics, surveillance) including basic elements of Zika assessment and response

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World Health Organization, Regional Office for South-East Asia (WHO-SEARO), Hospital-based Birth Defects Surveillance, Facilitator Guide

The objective of this training course on hospital-based birth defects surveillance (BDS) is to provide participants with the foundational skills needed to begin, implement and progressively improve hospital based birth defects surveillance. Hospitals are expected to initially include externally visible and major birth defects in the surveillance plan. A set of such birth defects will be used as examples throughout this course. These defects are typically severe enough that they would probably be captured within the first few days after birth, have a significant public health impact and, for some of them, have the potential for primary prevention.

The Facilitator’s guide contains what you, as a facilitator, need in order to lead participants through the course. It contains detailed instructions on how to conduct each session. This is your most essential tool as a facilitator.

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National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

The NHGRI is a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  It was established to carry out the role of the NIH in the International Human Genome Project.  The website contains online education toolkits, talking glossaries of genetic terms (which can also be downloaded as Apps), fact sheets, teaching resources, a genomic medicine lecture series as well as in depth information on the funding and planning of research activity.

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Online Zika Training

This eLearning course, available in English and Spanish, was made possible through support provided by the Bureau for Global Health, U.S. Agency for International Development, under the terms of an Interagency Agreement with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The online resource consists of six training units: Introduction to Birth Defects, Lessons Learned from the Zika Outbreak 2015-2016, Zika - Case Definitions and Diagnostics Guidelines, Microcephaly and Congenital Zika Syndrome, and use of data for public health purposes.

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The Global Health Training Centre's Maternal Infections Course

The Global Health Network's Global Health Training Centre brings a wealth of training materials from across its network.  This Maternal Infections course is an interactive course for health professionals created by the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF), Oxford Maternal & Prenatal Health Institute (OMPHI),  The Global Health Network (TGHN), and the Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research (GFMER).  The course duration is estimated at 7 hours. 

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OPEN Pediatrics

This is an open access online community of health care professionals sharing best practices from all resource settings around the world through innovative collaboration and digital learning technologies.  Here, you can access content, including accredited and non-accredited courses, expert lectures and demonstrations, interactive device simulators, protocols and medical calculators.

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CLAP (Latin American Center for Perinatology, Women and Reproductive Health) of WHO-PAHO and March of Dimes produced "Perinatal Infections"

This downloadable PDF is an educational curriculum for health personnel on perinatal infections transmitted by the mother to her infant.  This 2008 publication contains information on:  the pathogen and the disease; burden of problem and burden of disease in the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean; diagnosis; and, prevention and treatment interventions.

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Global Health & Disability Course

This website provides a variety of free online courses, including one on Global Health and Disability.  This course is supported by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the International Centre for Evidence in Disability. 

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ConcePTION Core evidence elements 

ConcePTION Core evidence elements for generating medication safety evidence for pregnancy using population-based data contains extensive guidance on Congenital Anomalies is available here 

Toolkit on Disability for Africa - Culture, Beliefs and Disability

United Nations Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD). (2016). Toolkit on Disability for Africa – Culture, Beliefs and Disability. UN.

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Clubfoot Training

Hope Walks videos regarding clubfoot treatment

What is clubfoot and how is it treated?

Ten steps of a clubfoot treatment clinic

The Ponseti method of clubfoot treatment

Use of Foot Abduction Braces during Ponseti method treatment

About - Hope Walks

Global Clubfoot Initiative

Training courses: Training — Global Clubfoot Initiative

Online Course in Embryology for Medical Students  

Available in French, German and English.

Produced by Universities of Fribourg, Lausanne and Bern

The teaching goals of the web-based training in embryology are to:

  • foster a knowledge of both the mechanisms underlying human gamete development and fusion to form a new organism, and of those directing the subsequent growth, maturation and differentiation of organs and systems.
  • cultivate an awareness of the problems possibly occurring at different stages of organ development and of the malformations arising therefrom.
  • foster an appreciation of how the environment and drugs can influence embryological development.
  • promote competence in the counselling of parents with malformed children.

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