7 September 2014 - The two-day sub-regional training on awareness, prevention and management of Ebola ended today in Bissau with participants fully equipped to care for potential patients.

The Chief of Staff of the UN mission in Guinea-Bissau, Berhanemeskel Nega, closed the training for trainers held from 6-7 September at UNIOGBIS Headquarters. He commended the initiative and called on participants to make good use of the acquired knowledge in the event of Ebola outbreak by sharing their knowledge and experience with colleagues in their respective missions and countries. He further stated that overcoming the challenge posed by Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) will take longer, but the war will finally be won with the concerted efforts of all concerned, at the national, regional and international levels.

For Dr. Gladys George, Chief Medical Officer for the UN in Guinea-Bissau, "the training has produced certified trainers who could teach others to be aware of EVD, how to prevent and manage the disease. It also brought out the need to have regular regional medical training for the UN Medical staff, to keep abreast with the current medical practices and not just when there is crisis".

This training was facilitated by three experts from John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland in the US. Speaking at the end of the training, Trexler Polly, Director of Operations for John Hopkins Hospital said: "Participants were very receptive and it was a fantastic team. We had two full days of training and we had demonstrations, and competencies, so we taught concepts and then everyone was required to demonstrate back that they understood all the concepts, and we practiced numerous times on what protective equipment to wear, how to put it on, how to take it off, how to appropriately disinfect the environment and, finally, on the last day of the training, we gave a test to ensure that all the participants understood all the concepts and they had to achieve greater than 85% on the test, so we can ensure their competency".

In his opening remarks a day before, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Guinea-Bissau (SRSG) and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuiding Office in the country (UNIOGBIS), Miguel Trovoada, stressed that Guinea-Bissau has no reported case of Ebola: "As the country has just returned to constitutional normalcy after democratic elections held recently, it is mobilizing support to deal with its numerous challenges, including health. In this context, consequences would be very damageable for the country in the event of an Ebola outbreak. This is why the UN has been at forefront of efforts aimed at helping national authorities to put in place prevention and intervention mechanisms", he explained.

Under the theme, "Ebola Prevention Control and Awareness Training", the event brought together 35 Health Care professionals from UN missions and offices in six West African countries, as well as medical personnel from Guinea-Bissau Health Ministry and the ECOWAS Military Mission in Bissau (ECOMIB) participated in the training.

It was organized in collaboration by UNIOGBIS and the UN Medical Services Division.