Washington, D.C. — Health
professionals from more than 30 countries in Latin America and the
Caribbean will receive training in clinical management of Ebola in three
upcoming workshops sponsored by the Pan American Health
Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). The workshops are
part of a series of PAHO/WHO actions intended to help countries
strengthen their preparedness for potential cases of Ebola.
The “train-the-trainer” courses will take place on 1-3 December in
Antigua and Barbuda, for Caribbean health professionals, and on 3-5 and
9-11 December in Chile, for health personnel from Latin America.
Participants in the three workshops are expected to train other health
professionals in their home countries upon their return, with PAHO/WHO
support.
“The goal of the workshops is to strengthen the clinical response
capacity of doctors and nurses who have been assigned to treat Ebola
patients,” said Dr. Marcos Espinal (seen here), Director of PAHO/WHO’s Department of
Communicable Diseases and Health Analysis. “After this training, we’ll
have health staff who are better prepared to rapidly detect cases,
isolate and treat them, and prevent the disease’s spread.”
Some trainees are also expected to participate in specialized
international teams that could be mobilized by PAHO/WHO to provide
support in clinical response and outbreak control to any country in the
region that is affected by Ebola.
During each three-day workshop, participants will learn about the
history and epidemiology of Ebola virus disease and how to detect,
isolate, and manage suspected cases. The training will also cover
diagnosis and clinical management, use of personal protective equipment,
organization of specialized treatment units, and aspects of infection
prevention and control.
Workshop facilitators are all professionals with experience in
management of Ebola and other infectious diseases. In addition to
PAHO/WHO staff, they include experts from the Carlos III Hospital in
Spain; Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and St. Patrick’s
Hospital in Missoula, Montana, USA: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH);
and Brazil and Chile.
Trainees will include health professionals from Argentina, Bahamas,
Barbados, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador,Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico Paraguay,
Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay, among other countries.
Participants were selected by their countries according to their
professional medical and teaching experience, work in a national
hospital, and willingness to serve as trainers in their own countries
and support PAHO/WHO missions to other countries of the region.
PAHO/WHO has undertaken a series of actions to help its member
countries in Latin America and the Caribbean ensure they are able to
detect, contain, and prevent local transmission of any imported case of
Ebola. The are part of larger efforts by PAHO/WHO to help its member
countries prevent and respond to public health risks that cross borders
and threaten populations, within the framework of the International
Health Regulations (IHR), an international legal instrument signed by
WHO Member States.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was declared a public health
emergency of international concern by WHO Director Margaret Chan on 8
August 2014. By 21 November, more than 15,000 cases and nearly 5,500
deaths had been reported, mostly in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
In the Americas, only the United States has reported cases of Ebola,
however, the possibility of imported cases in other countries of the
Americas cannot be discarded.
PAHO, founded in 1902, is the oldest international public health
organization in the world. It works with its member countries to improve
the health and the quality of life of the people of the Americas. It
also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of WHO.
