Education, Health Ministries Conducts Ebola Training

The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, has concluded a two-day Ebola training workshop on “Safe School” Ebola Prevention and Protocol for teachers and health personnel in the country.

The training was geared towards developing the skills of teachers and healthcare workers in Ebola detection and prevention techniques as a means of helping to curb the spread of the EVD in schools and health facilities across the country.

Highlighted during the training ways participants could help to educate students in their various schools through hygiene and sanitation, as well as practice promotions everywhere in their respective communities, with the goal of ensuring a safe school environment free from the deadly Ebola virus.

The two-day training was held simultaneously at various schools across the country, including the Virginia Public School in Montserrado County, Bassa High School in Grand Bassa County, Catholic Retreat Center in Bong County, as well as the Voinjama Multilateral High School in Lofa County. The training brought together over 500 participants – 356 teachers and 178 health workers, from seven counties – Lofa, Margibi, Bong, Bomi, Bassa, Nimba and Montserrado Counties.

The training which ended last weekend, was held in the wake of the high incidence of the virus in those counties.

The health workers and teachers will work closely with school authorities in hygiene and sanitation promotion so as to keep the school environment clean. According to a release, funding for the training was provided by the Islamic Development Bank, through a grant donated by the Late Saudi King, Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, in support of the Liberian Government’s efforts in fighting the Ebola Virus Disease.

The release said the Islamic Development Bank was working in partnership with the government to support the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program of the Ministry of Education, through the construction of latrines and hand-pumps in 210 schools in the nine highly affected Ebola counties.

The release further noted that the Bank was also funding the procurement of laboratory equipment and consumables, as well as training 15 Biomedical Technicians for the Ministry of Health, through the World Health Organization.

The release indicated that the design and construction of an Out-patient Clinic and Regional Reference Laboratory at Jackson F. Doe Hospital in Tapitta, Nimba County is also being supported by the Bank, through the United Nations Office for Project Services.

The Bank recently provided 25 thermal sensor cameras to the Ministry of Health, through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, to be used for security screening to detecting early symptoms of the Ebola virus through body temperature monitoring. Several institutions of learning and hospitals have benefited from the installation of these cameras.

By Lewis S. Teh-Edited by George Barpeen