After numerous video calls among the project consortium, it was clear that each partner country is sliding into national lockdown. These lockdowns were limiting domestic and international mobility, causing the consortium to make a decision to postpone the planned project meetings in South Africa until the situation stabilizes. Unfortunately, it is still unclear whether the project consortium will be able to implement any of the remaining face-to-face meetings.

What kind of actions has MEGA taken to tackle the damaged caused by COVID-19?

As a consortium that mainly represents the healthcare field, MEGA was in an advantaged position to understand the impending pandemic. Therefore, the MEGA consortium was prepared to implement some rapid changes in order to soften any possible damage caused by COVID-19. The first step was to ensure the safety of project participants and partners. This is why the MEGA consortium decided to cancel all physical meetings in Europe and Africa, transferring all the remaining project meetings to online platforms. Implementation of activities which were intended for the general public (e.g. seminars, trainings) was tackled by establishing tailor-made materials, which would replace the initially planned physical meetings and seminars.

The situation with piloting the MEGA mobile application was a bit more complicated, due to limited interaction with project stakeholders caused by the pandemic. As the MEGA app had to be tested in real-life settings by project stakeholders (nurses, clinical officers, etc.), the consortium could not use any digital tools or online platforms to replace the face-to-face testing period. However, the MEGA consortium strongly believes that the health of the primary healthcare specialist is more important than the overall project results. Fortunately, nurses in several South African and Zambian clinics were able to use the MEGA app while fulfilling their daily duties and, thus, the project was able to collect the necessary data.

What can MEGA and other KA2-projects/EU learn from the pandemic?

The pandemic period has been an excellent learning curve for both the funder and the beneficiaries. Communication during the lockdown period has shown that almost all partners have access to a solid internet connection and online tools. However, we have observed that consortiums (not only MEGA) are not advancing these tools as often as they could. Therefore while planning new projects, e-toolkits should be more commonly used.

As it is still quite difficult to predict when the current pandemic will end, consortiums need to advance the lessons learned and work on implementation strategies that are more reliant on different e-solutions. Fortunately, the MEGA consortium has already taken many necessary steps to become more virtual. Thus, project funder could collect these case studies and develop guidelines on how to develop a virtual working environment and how to shift work online.

The risk assessment will be more closely reviewed while preparing new projects. The future project consortiums have to practice out of the box thinking and be prepared for situations, which might not even happen. Therefore, also the funder should put more emphasis on risk assessment plans and closely review how the future projects are estimating possible risks. Project consortiums have to be ready to tackle unexpected issues.

The University has a student population of about 26,000 students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels with approximately 300 academic staff members and support staff. The University offers more than 157 programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The school of Nursing Sciences is one of the 13 Schools of the University of Zambia. The School offers both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Clinical Nursing, Maternal and Child Health, Community and Global Health, and Psychiatry and Mental Health Nursing. The School runs both onsite and distance programmes for undergraduates. The Erasmus+ MEGA Project is hosted within the Mental Health Department of the School. The Project is run by a team of five staff members who are responsible for the dissemination related activities which is Work Package 8 of the MEGA Project. In addition, team members participate and contribute to all the other work packages of the project.

The Profile for each team Members is given below:

1. Mwape Lonia is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Zambia. She is the Vice-President of the General Nursing Council of Zambia and is a Vice-Chair of the National Research Ethics Board. She leads the MEGA project for UNZA.
2. Katowa-Mukwato is a Senior Lecturer at the University. She has specialized in teaching and learning of clinical skills, simulation & knowledge translation. She is a project manager and controller in the MEGA project.
3. Ms Wahila Ruth is a Head of Department of Basic and Clinical Nursing Sciences at the University. She is also a lecturer and PhD Candidate. She fulfils the role of the researcher in the project.
4. Chapima Fabian is a lecturer at the University of Zambia and a PhD fellow. He is a Researcher role in the MEGA project.
5. Mumbuluma Peterson is a member of the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants and a fellow of ACCA. His role in the MEGA project is to ensure that accounting and financing issues in the project at UNZA goes smoothly and within the approved budget.

The committee comprised of Honorable Members of Parliament, Representatives from the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly, Ministry of Higher Education and Higher Education Authority.

One of the highlights was the presentation on “MEGA Project – Building capacity by implementing mhGAP mobile intervention in SADC countries,” which is an Erasmus+ funded project.  The Project began in October 2017, with implementation in South Africa and Zambia respectively.

The parliamentarians were very impressed by the efforts that LAMU is making in ensuring the quality of teaching, learning, and research.

The meeting aimed to review the quality of Higher Education at LAMU in Lusaka, Zambia.

Miss Namwaka Angel Mooto, who is LAMU’s Deputy Registrar – Academic Affairs and Acting MEGA Project Manager, made a presentation to the parliamentarians on behalf of LAMU.

The presentation showcased LAMU’s involvement in Teaching, Learning, Research, and Collaborations with other institutions.

“We are kindly requesting your participation in the research study titled “Building Capacity by implementing mhGAP mobile intervention in SADC countries”.

Two questionnaires need to be administered, namely the: Demographic and Mental Health Literacy Scale. Before you decide whether or not to take part in this study, we would request that you read the information sheet on the purpose of this study, benefits, and risks to you, and what is expected of you. If you agree to take part, you will be asked to sign a consent form. Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary; you are under no obligation to participate. You should be aware that the Biomedical Research Ethics Committee of the University of Zambia has approved this study.

The first reaction in most instances was to look at the length of the questionnaire and to compare it with the workload at hand. All potential participants responded by indicating that “two long questionnaires against the long queue of clients/patients waiting to be attended to is difficult to do”.   Team A was amazed at the assertiveness of one nurse who requested the researchers to assist with screening the patients while she answered the questionnaire considering that she was the only one present at the Health Centre.  The response was almost the same with Team B. Surprisingly once the process started, the response was good, with only a few clarifications and questions raised. The process is yet to be completed in the urban health centres, in Lusaka Province the capital city for Zambia.

Project Coordinator Mari Lahti and Project Investigator Joonas Korhonen had a productive time with the UNZA and LAMU teams. They had the opportunity to visit both universities and hold meetings with the partners. In addition, the UNZA team had arranged visits to the emergency ward, medical-surgical ward and cancer hospital of the university hospital.

UNZA had also organized an opportunity for the TUAS team to spend an afternoon in Chainama mental health hospital. The visitors were able to meet the director and discuss the future needs in mental health screening and patient care in Zambia. They were also invited to visit female and male acute wards, talk to nurses and meet patients.

Based on this visit to a first-level hospital and a mental health hospital, it is obvious that there is an urgent need to screen and assess the mental health issues on primary health care level, which is in accordance with the UN and WHO agendas.