Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) has organized a one-week training course titled 'Health Management in Emergencies' in Gaziantep, Turkey, with specialist and expert attendance from several NGOs and international organizations, to qualify relief workers to manage challenges and issues of public health in local communities at times of crisis.
The course was attended by 30 trainees, 15 of whom were from QRC Mission in Turkey, in addition to QRC doctors and health center coordinators inside Syria and representative of several health organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, Physicians Across Continents (PAC), the International Islamic Relief Organization, the Islamic Sham Organization, the Turkish Red Crescent Society (TRCS), and the Human Appeal International.
The participants were divided into five six-members working groups, classified based on profession, experience, and affiliation. The course was instructed by six QRC highly-qualified volunteers from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), the Supreme Council of Health (SCH), Qatar Foundation for Social Protection and Rehabilitation, and the Qatari Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning.
The agenda involved workshops on several significant topics, including general principles of emergency management, health care in emergency, on-site systematic emergency response and health facilities, food and nutrition, systematic response to chemical accidents, psychological support and health, application of epidemiology in emergency, infection control, water and environmental sanitation, sheltering, and camp building.
By the end of each day, a session was held to review the practical experiences of the participants. The sessions included practical scenario demos about the cases and situations faced during actual relief activities. On the last day, the program was concluded with distribution of certificates to the trainees.
This course is part of QRC's annual training program on health relief capacity-building in Qatar and the region-wide. The first training of its kind to be introduced in Arabic, the course was designed after the Health Emergencies in Large Populations (H.E.L.P.) course, which QRC is authorized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to instruct in the MENA zone. QRC has already host three versions, in 2011, 2012, and 2013, where instruction was in English.
These courses cover a wide range of topics, such as planning, food security, public health, epidemic management, health care systems, the international humanitarian law, refugee protection, psychological support, psychological health, sheltering, and camp building and management. They are targeted to different health workers, including doctors, nurses, nutritionists, environmental engineers, epidemiologists, and public health professionals, as well as relief workers in countries hit by conflicts or natural disasters.
Source: QNA