LBS Trains Health Trainers, Boost Healthcare Delivery

HEALTH workers trainers have received capacity boost on infection diseases management including the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as they concluded training in Lagos.    

    The training workshop organised by Lagos Business School (LBS) in collaboration with the Lagos State Government, and Yale University in the US, was aimed at providing all health institutions in the country with qualified personnel.

    The four days training was provided free of charge for public health sector professionals, and subsidised health administrators and trainers in order to mitigate brain drain in the country. 

    Country Director, Africare, Dr. Orode Doherty, who delivered lecture during the training said the gesture was to support Lagos state government to deliver training of trainers in the sector. 

    Doherty said: This training is on acquisition and notification of infection disease as important key for healthcare workers, especially in rural communities, who have not participated in Ebola treatment.”

    He said: “health workers were trained on contact tracing, which is important because any Ebola suspects have to be followed up for 21 days; which is the period the person is expected to have symptoms.”                       

   “Nigeria has been declared Ebola free but West African Region has not been declared free. Nigeria is country where we have many entry points so, it is likely that people must come into Nigeria through the border because we do not have travel ban. It is important that all healthcare workers are appropriately aware of EVD so that when people start to have fever, they should know the necessary step to take. 

    Academic Director, LBS, Dr. Henrietta Onwuegbuzie said she has the idea of training the trainers because she realised that during the Ebola crisis, hospitals were rejecting patients and to her the training is the only way to prevent Ebola epidemic. 

  She said: “It was clear that there was a need to have more experienced health personnel during Ebola outbreak. We are here to train health workers together on how to manage infection disease not only on Ebola but other infection diseases because we had other diseases in the past such as cholera, diarrhea and bird flu. This is an effort to develop effective response system to manage infection disease more effectively. 

   She said: “The training has benefited over 60 health workers in Lagos and these trainers would go back to their various communities to train other health workers.