Training for the ‘new normal’ in East African aviation

German cooperation helps mitigate COVID-19 infection risks for EAC’s airline staff and passengers

East African air­space shut down in mid-March in an at­tempt to pre­vent the spread of coro­n­avirus.  Now, as air­ports across the re­gion pre­pare to re­open, it is vi­tal for the safety of both staff and pas­sen­gers, that all in­volved in the avi­a­tion in­dus­try are trained and well versed in how to deal with COVID-19 and other in­fec­tious dis­eases.

Nor­mally packed with trav­ellers and tourists, Nairobi’s Jomo Keny­atta In­ter­na­tional air­port is now eerily empty. ‘The air­port is like a de­serted crime scene… no­body wants to come,’ says Ade­laide Amaro, a se­nior per­for­mance man­ager at Kenya Air­ways. East African air­space largely shut down in mid-March in an at­tempt to pre­vent the spread of coro­n­avirus through air travel. Nairobi is an in­ter­na­tional avi­a­tion hub for flights from all over Africa and the rest of the world and the air­port nor­mally serves over seven mil­lion pas­sen­gers a year, as well as count­less cargo flights full of vi­tal ex­ports, such as Kenyan flow­ers des­tined for Eu­ro­pean mar­kets, so the eco­nomic im­pact of shut­down for both the coun­try and the re­gion has been enor­mous.    

Now, as air­ports across the re­gion ten­ta­tively pre­pare to re­open – still un­clear whether Africa has dodged the worst ef­fects of coro­n­avirus or if the im­pact of the pan­demic is yet to come – it is vi­tal that air­ports and air­lines are able to op­er­ate safely to mit­i­gate the po­ten­tial risks.  

An ex­ten­sive train­ing pro­gramme for eight in­ter­na­tional air­ports

On be­half of the East African Sec­re­tariat, the East African Com­mu­nity Civil Avi­a­tion Safety and Se­cu­rity Over­sight Agency (EAC CAS­SOA) with sup­port from the Ger­man Gov­ern­ment through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für In­ter­na­tionale Zusam­me­nar­beit (GIZ) is look­ing at ways of strength­en­ing re­gional pan­demic pre­pared­ness and re­sponse ca­pac­i­ties at In­ter­na­tional Air­ports (Bu­rundi, Dar es Salaam, En­tebbe, Juba, Ki­gali, Kil­i­man­jaro,  Mom­basa, Nairobi and pos­si­bly Zanz­ibar). in the East African Com­mu­nity Part­ner States.  This will be done through an ex­ten­sive pro­gramme of train­ing at each of the eight air­ports, be­gin­ning at Jomo Keny­atta In­ter­na­tional Air­port (JKIA) on 26th May. 

The train­ing pro­gramme sup­ports the East African Com­mu­nity (EAC) Sec­re­tariat in its co­or­di­nat­ing and ad­vi­sory func­tion for pan­demic pre­pared­ness in the re­gion. It is be­ing sup­ported by GIZ’s Pan­demic Pre­pared­ness Pro­ject (Pan­Prep) based in Arusha, Tan­za­nia, and im­ple­mented in co­op­er­a­tion with the African Med­ical and Re­search Foun­da­tion (AM­REF) Fly­ing Doc­tors ser­vice, based in Nairobi. AM­REF’s Fly­ing Doc­tor ser­vice has been al­lowed to op­er­ate across the re­gion through­out the cri­sis. Cru­cially, its staff are ex­empt from quar­an­tine mea­sures when trav­el­ling be­tween coun­tries and can move freely for the pur­poses of the train­ing pro­gramme.  

Im­prov­ing pre­pared­ness, in the­ory and prac­tice

The main aim of the train­ing is to re­duce the risks of spread­ing COVID-19 into and out of the EAC through avi­a­tion. All staff need to be fa­mil­iarised with na­tional and air­port emer­gency pre­pared­ness and re­sponse plans and of pro­to­cols for sur­veil­lance and pre­ven­tion of the spread of COVID-19.  To achieve this, key train­ers will be trained and then cas­cade what they have learned  to their own staff or sec­tions, cov­er­ing air­port med­ical ser­vice providers, vet­eri­nary ser­vices, air­craft/air­line op­er­a­tors, air­line crew, se­cu­rity, im­mi­gra­tion, cus­toms, cargo and bag­gage han­dlers, air nav­i­ga­tion ser­vices and air­port res­cue and fire-fight­ing providers.

The training is both theoretical and practical, covering background information about epidemics and the regional standard operating procedures and guidelines for dealing with them. It addresses misconceptions and misinformation about the transmission of COVID-19 and shows participants how to wash their hands properly, use masks, screen passengers’ temperature, including the use of thermal scanners. It also shows participants how to safely clean and disinfect items and areas and how to handle and isolate people with symptoms.

The individuals attending the training of trainers were carefully selected: ‘Only key senior and operational staff can effectively cascade the training on to others effectively’ says Timothy Wesonga of the German-supported PanPrep project. Emile Arao, Executive Director of EAC CASSOA, agrees with him: ‘The training of trainers approach allows us to create a critical mass of competent staff who can ensure that everyone connected with aviation knows what to do and how to prevent COVID-19 from spreading.’  

Safety first!

Due to the current restrictions on the number of people allowed to gather in one room, the two-day training sessions can only cover 15 people at a time. Only one person sits at each desk and everyone has to wear masks throughout. Hand washing facilities and sanitisers are provided at the entrance and within the class. ‘We have made sure to mitigate any risks to the participants,’ says Wesonga.  Two training sessions are planned for each of the East African international airports so that in 16 two-day training sessions 240 people will be trained in total.

At the same time, PanPrep is supporting airport staff with the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE). CASSOA’s Emile Arao says he is grateful for this support: ‘We have been able to do this in record time, whilst adhering to procurement regulations. Initially PPE had to be procured from China, but now it is being produced locally to the same standard. The shortage of PPE has led to home grown solutions.’ 

‘The new normal’

While the trainees are very motivated to learn and accepting of the ‘new normal’, there is a long way to go in a short time. ‘The way we treat passengers will have to completely change,’ says Adelaide Amaro, a senior performance manager at Kenya Airways in charge of the airline’s operation manuals and training.

‘Nyumba Kumi’: Cooperation is key

‘Nyumba Kumi’ is a Swahili expression roughly meaning ‘you are your brother’s keeper,’ and this sentiment has to be the basis for a regional approach to such outbreaks, says CASSOA’s Emile Arao. Local solutions will not be effective unless the bigger picture is taken into consideration and countries in the region and across Africa work together. 

‘We are all very happy about the support we get from the German government for our regional pandemic response. The training conducted by AMREF has been first class,’ says Emile. However, he also warns that it is a ‘drop in the ocean’ when viewed in relation to what is needed. Emile is keen for the training to be shared with other countries and regions as well and has briefed the African High Level Task Force on COVID-19 accordingly. The African Union has also expressed interest in rolling out similar trainings across the continent, including at the domestic airports that feed into Africa’s international airports.  

Meanwhile, at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Adelaide Amaro’s verdict on the two day-training is ‘This has been really useful. It is what every airline needs for going back to work. It will give staff and the public confidence.’

Ruth Evans, June 2020

SOURCE: health.bmz.de