QRC/Doha
Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) organised a week-long training course titled ‘Health Management in Emergencies’ in Gaziantep, Turkey.
The course will be attended by experts from several NGOs and international organisations to train relief workers on handling issues of public health 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 centre co-ordinators inside Syria and representatives of several health organisations such as Doctors Without Borders, Physicians Across Continents (PAC), the International Islamic Relief Organisation, the Turkish Red Crescent Society (TRCS) and the Human Appeal International.
The participants were divided into five six-member working groups, based on profession, experience, and affiliation.
The course was conducted by six QRC 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, healthcare 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 demonstrations about the cases and situations faced during actual relief activities. The programme concluded with distribution of certificates to the trainees.
This course is part of QRC’s annual training programme on health relief capacity-building in Qatar and around the region. The first training of its kind to be introduced in Arabic, the course was designed after the Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP) course, which QRC is authorised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to instruct in the Mena region. QRC has already hosted three programmes, in 2011, 2012, and 2013, where the instruction was in English.
These courses cover a wide range of topics, such as planning, food security, public health, epidemic management, healthcare systems, the international humanitarian law, refugee protection, psychological support, psychological health, sheltering, and camp building and management. They are targeted for 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.
