Project Newsletters

LEAP Global Technical Advisors shine in Kazakhstan

Last month, Marat Kaliev (Uzebekistan), Mariyah Idrissova (Kyrgyzstan), Nicoloz Nasidze (Georgia), and Timur Bazikov (Kyrgyzstan) were invited to Astana, Kazakhstan, for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) regional TB stakeholders meeting. The two-day meeting featured a half-day launch of the Regional Approaches for Eradicating Tuberculosis in Central Asia Activity (REFAT), funded by the USAID Central Asia Mission. 

There, the team reflected on the regional status of TB control and prevention, reviewed national TB strategic plans in all five Central Asian countries, identified common challenges, exchanged information and ideas, and established a steering committee and task forces for regional cooperation. The TAs and their peers gained greater understanding of the regional and country-specific challenges faced in the fight to end the TB epidemic and contributed their expertise to the next stage. 

Congratulations to Marat, Mariyah, Nicoloz, and Timur on yet another well-deserved vote of confidence!

Spotlight TA: Mariya Idrissova

Each month, the newsletter spotlights one of the project's Technical Advisors to help you get to know more about the team. Spotlights are also posted on the LEAP Hub. 

LEAP Global is pleased to spotlight Mariya Idrissova this month. A Kazakh national working in the Kyrgyz Republic, Mariya is lauded by her peers in Kyrgyzstan, the tuberculosis (TB) space, and USAID LEAP Global as an innovative thinker and overall joy to have as a colleague. 

Read Mariya’s spotlight on the LEAP Hub to learn about her successes in helping Kyrgyzstan tackle TB and to access the unique Russian-language guidelines she crafted for the USAID Challenge TB project.

Professional development on the LEAP Hub

Did you know that USAID LEAP Global tracks professional development opportunities in the infectious disease space? The LEAP Hub’s professional development resources page contains a long list of webinars, trainings, and e-learning courses provided by top health organizations and agencies across the globe, preceded by a list of associations that infectious disease professionals can join. 

Newly posted resources include: 

• In person and online courses from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

• The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Learning Center, with course and webinar listings

• European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) Learning Portal

Check out more professional development opportunities on the LEAP Hub. If you have any to share, please send them to communications@leap-global.org!

What’s new in the news

Looking for news and information about infectious disease programming, initiatives, and data? LEAP Global has you covered! The LEAP Hub's "In the News" webpage contains news articles from across the globe.

This month, LEAP Global added around 50 articles to the LEAP Hub! News focused heavily on vaccines and medications to tackle various infectious diseases, notably developed in the affected countries themselves.

In Ethiopia, pharmacy students developed a malaria medication being tested in Uganda. Indonesia is developing a new TB vaccine. And, for the first time, a Nigerian company is pre-qualified to manufacture a malaria vaccine for pregnant women. In other malaria news, research on mosquito mating and circadian rhythm is contributing to diversified prevention approaches.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to lead innovative approaches to detecting TB, including through chest x-rays, machine learning, and, thanks to Google, cough sounds. And, a new app serves the dual purpose of keeping travelers safe and feeding researchers with real-time infectious disease information.

Access all these articles and more on the LEAP Hub!

On November 1, Juan Carlos Camacho Sofrony stepped into the role of LEAP Global’s Procurement and Finance Director. This role was previously held by Tuan Hoang, to whom the project is immensely grateful for his efforts in starting up LEAP Global and putting financial systems in place.

Juan Carlos brings more than 13 years of experience managing finance, grants, subcontracts, procurement, and compliance aspects of USAID-funded projects. Learn more about him and the rest of LEAP Global’s Project Management Office on the LEAP Hub.

The entire LEAP Global team is thrilled to have Juan Carlos on board and has already felt the impact he has made on our financial systems and procedures. Welcome!

Each month, the newsletter spotlights one of the project's Technical Advisors to help you get to know more about the team. Spotlights are also posted on the LEAP Hub.

LEAP Global is so pleased to spotlight Dr. Marat Kaliev this month. A Kyrgyz national working in Uzbekistan with extensive medical training, Marat is a prolific author, lecturer, and trainer who has strengthened health systems across Central Asia and has had a profound impact on health financing in Kyrgyzstan.

Read Marat’s spotlight feature on the LEAP Hub to access his more-than-20 (!!) publications and to learn about the worst advice he’s ever received, where he went on his first trip abroad, and how he’ll eat almost anything, as long as it’s tasty.

After months of anticipation, LEAP Global Technical Advisors (TAs) made their mark on the International Union on Tuberculosis and Lung Disease’s World Conference on Lung Health. From November 12th to the 16th, 17 TAs attended keynote speeches and presentations, met each other and new contacts, deepened their relationships with their country cohorts, and shared their expertise through presentations and discussions.

Over the next couple of months, LEAP Global will share our TAs’ experiences from their perspectives, in their own words, and through the photographs they took. See some of these photographs right now on the LEAP Blog!

Looking for news and information about infectious disease programming, initiatives, and data? LEAP Global has you covered! The LEAP Hub's "In the News" webpage contains news articles from across the globe.

In the past, LEAP Global has tried to share lots and lots of news on myriad topics. But, that became unwieldy. Going forward, we will share notable, unique, interesting news articles on one page only, thus fewer in number, but updated more-frequently than before.

Because of this change, LEAP Global particularly wants your input into what you find most notable and interesting to read about. So, if you see any articles that you think the project should feature on the “In the News” page, please send them to communications@leap-global.org.

October 1 marked the beginning of Project Year 2. LEAP Global is taking on the new year with new activities and a sharpened focus on expanding our TAs’ reach into new countries and technical areas.

LEAP Global is excited to share this journey with you! To learn more about what the project has planned for Year 2, read the new blog post on the LEAP Blog. Want to work with us this year and beyond? Email info@leap-global.org for more information.

The LEAP Hub’s Careers page shares up-to-date job postings for Technical Advisor and Project Management Office positions as they become available. Now, you can get these job postings sent straight to your inbox! Fill out this form to join the LEAP Global careers listserv, and the project will notify you a notice as soon as a new job is posted. 

On November 12-16, LEAP Global will send 17 Technical Advisors (TAs) to the International Union on Tuberculosis and Lung Disease’s World Conference on Lung Health! There, they will have multiple opportunities to meet industry leaders, deepen connections with their country cohorts, learn about innovations in tuberculosis management, and get to know each other. Some TAs will be presenting!

If you also are attending the Union Conference, feel free to reach out to info@leap-global.org, and the project will connect you to the TAs.

Next month’s newsletter will feature stories on project TAs’ experiences at the Union Conference. Stay tuned!

Looking for news and information about infectious disease programming, initiatives, and data? LEAP Global has you covered! The LEAP Hub's "In the News" webpage contains news articles from across the globe.

This month, “In the News” focuses on malaria, featuring articles about the newly launched malaria vaccine in Cote d’Ivoire and a new page on drug-resistant malaria.

Also, as LEAP Global expands its technical expertise, so too does “In the News”! The webpage will soon add articles on animal health and health security under the One Health approach.

If you see any articles LEAP Global should add to “In the News”, send them to communications@leap-global.org.

On September 20, LEAP Global celebrated one year of implementation! Year 1 was full of milestones, including onboarding two dozen amazing Technical Advisors, gathering feedback and needs from USAID and government points of contact, and setting up the systems and tools that will successfully execute the project for at least the next four years.

Over the month of October, the project will feature its Year 1 achievements in multiple posts. Check out the LEAP Blog for in depth stories, and follow LEAP Global on LinkedIn to get regular notifications of new posts.

Each month, the newsletter will spotlight one of the project's Technical Advisors to help you get to know more about the team. Spotlights are also posted on the LEAP Hub. 

The clear honoree for October 2024 was Winnie Mwanza. Winnie honors LEAP Global every day with her dedication to conquering the tuberculosis epidemic. Read Winnie’s spotlight to access her four (!) journal articles and learn about how she makes her own yogurt and how expressive her Pomeranian Maltese dog, Billy, is. 

LEAP Global’s Technical Advisors work hard and tackle myriad responsibilities, and the project would like to make our TAs’ jobs easier. We are excited to announce that the Technical Advisor Hub is now live!

The TA Hub is an internal resource specifically for project TAs. The “Tools and Templates” pages contain all the policies, standard operating procedures, forms, and templates that TAs require to carry out administrative tasks. The “Resources” pages include the TA calendar, updates and reminders from the newsletter’s TA Corner, and publishing support; new resources pages may be added in the coming months. And, the Discussion Forum connects TAs to each other and to other LEAP Global staff for technical and administrative support.

Please contact Knowledge Management and Communications Advisor Rachel Elrom (relrom@leap-global.org) with any questions or suggestions of resources you would like to see on the TA Hub.

Looking for news and information about infectious disease programming, initiatives, and data? LEAP Global has you covered! The LEAP Hub's "In the News" webpage contains news articles from across the globe.

LEAP Global asked what kind of information you’re looking for, and you’ve overwhelmingly responded tuberculosis news, particularly on vaccine development. “In the News” has multiple pages dedicated to TB! In addition to the Tuberculosis Vaccine News page, there are pages for Tuberculosis Screening, Testing, and Diagnosis, Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, Tuberculosis Treatment, and more.

New articles are added weekly, so check back often. The project also encourages you to share articles with us that we would be happy to add to the LEAP Hub and feature in this newsletter. Any topic in any way related to infectious diseases, global health, and government programming is welcome! Send articles to communications@leap-global.org.

LEAP Global has arrived on social media! The project has a new LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/usaid-leap-global.

Follow us for quick stories, job postings, and the latest news. Even better, like, share, and repost LEAP Global’s posts to help spread the word on our good work and achievements. There will be special incentives for project Technical Advisors to share and repost; stay tuned for details.

Each month, the newsletter will spotlight one of the project's Technical Advisors to help you get to know more about the team. Spotlights are also posted on the LEAP Hub. 

This month, LEAP Global is pleased to feature Timur Bazikov, Senior Technical Advisor to the Kyrgyz Republic’s National TB Program. Read Timur’s spotlight to learn about his love for helping people and to access his journal article on the necessity of building government capacity in operational research.

Last month, LEAP Global re-launched its website, the LEAP Hub. Now, LEAP Global needs your help beta testing the site.

We want your input. How easy is it to navigate the site? Does everything load quickly and clearly? Does the site provide the information you want and expect? We need answers to these questions and more to ensure that the LEAP Hub serves YOUR needs.

Please fill out this form by Monday, September 23. And, feel free to message the project at communications@leap-global.org with any questions about the beta testing or the LEAP Hub itself.

Your support on this initiative is so needed and appreciated!

Looking for news and information about infectious disease programming, initiatives, and data? LEAP Global has you covered! The LEAP Hub's "In the News" webpage contains news articles from across the globe.

In the past month, the project has greatly expanded the “In the News” feature! We added hundreds of new articles and categorized them into multiple pages, such as for malaria and tuberculosis vaccines and treatment, program management and monitoring, and innovative practices.

New news posts will be added to "In the News" every Monday. Future newsletters will contain synopses of the newly added news pieces.

On Monday, June 3, LEAP Global launched a new version of its project website, called the LEAP Hub! It uses the same https://www.leap-global.org domain as the original site. 

The new site contains a multitude of information about the project specifically and the infectious disease space generally, focusing on tuberculosis and malaria. Pages and information from the original site remain, including staff bios, news from around the globe, and the careers page. New to the LEAP Hub are pages for Technical Advisor bios and resources, project and industry events, professional development, project newsletters, and a blog and project news feed. 

LEAP Global welcomes suggestions for news and information to add to the LEAP Hub. Email us at communications@leap-global.org. And, stay tuned for an invitation to beta test the new website. Your opinion is important to us!

Each month, the LEAP Global newsletter will spotlight one of the project's Technical Advisors to help you get to know more about the team. Spotlights are also posted on the LEAP Hub. 

The inaugural spotlighted Technical Advisor is Sandesh Neupane, a Global Fund and Tuberculosis Grant Advisor based in Nepal. Over his decade in the public health sector, Sandesh has made significant contributions to Nepal's fight against Tuberculosis. Read Sandesh's spotlight interview on the LEAP Hub, and learn more about his passions for social action and singing and all about what makes the Hindu Dashain holiday special.

Looking for news and information about infectious disease programming, initiatives, and data? LEAP Global has you covered! The LEAP Hub's "In the News" webpage contains news articles from across the globe, focusing on tuberculosis and malaria.

New news posts will be added to "In the News" every Monday. Future newsletters will contain synopses of the newly added news pieces.

The new LEAP Hub includes a blog that features a news feed and stories highlighting project successes. The blog does more than share project news and stories, though. It provides a space for Technical Advisors to share their activities, experience, and ideas. 

If you would like to be featured in the LEAP Hub Blog, contact LEAP Global Knowledge Management and Communications Advisor Rachel Elrom at relrom@leap-global.org.