Training Healthcare Workers In Humanitarian Health Response
Humanitarian U trains healthcare workers in humanitarian health response and got involved in the development of an online Ebola training course for the International Medical Corps’ (IMC) Multi-Agency Training Collaboration to Support the Ebola Response in West Africa – an initiative we called MATCO.
Humanitarian U worked with IMC and Massachusetts General Hospital’s Centre of Global Health to create a training package that was available in both English and French and targeted to people working in an Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) in Liberia and Sierra Leone. At the time, there were no standardized protocols on how to put on or take off protective gear – a procedure now known as “donning and doffing” – or how to conduct a safe burial without contaminating family and friends at the funeral. The MATCO training offered a step-wise program for trainers and trainers of trainers which taught safe practices in a classroom and at ETUs so that both international and national staff – people coming from Liberia and Sierra Leone – could be safe while working in an ETU while offering the very best care to the victims of Ebola.
Ready-To-Go Ebola Mobile Guide
Humanitarian U has updated this material and worked with DisasterReady to develop a new Ready-to-Go Mobile Guide for Working in an Ebola Treatment Unit. This interactive Guide is made for smartphones, designed specifically to support learning on the go. Launched in DisasterReady.org it is available in English and French.
I hope you will have a look at it by clicking on THIS LINK and creating a free account on DisasterReady.org or logging in to your existing account.
This valuable resource was designed with graphics that make it simple to understand concepts and critical steps to ensure proper safety and care for everyone involved with the ETU.
Despite the hopes of eradicating Ebola with a vaccine the challenges to access those populations most at risk of contracting the disease – due to conflict, lack of healthcare facilities or that they are simply hard to reach – means that we can expect to have outbreaks in the years to come. Resources like this one will prove to be hugely important. Humanitarian U is proud to partner with DisasterReady.org on this project, one that will prove to be useful to so many people who are working so hard to help people who are a victim to Ebola.
