Background
In 2013, there were 2.3 million Filipino nationals working overseas. The Commission on Filipinos Overseas estimates that 1366 Filipinos work in countries affected by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
On 8 August 2014, WHO's Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, declared the Ebola outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern, requiring a co-ordinated international response. Given the evolving situation, there is a considerable risk of cases appearing in currently unaffected countries. With adequate levels of preparation however, such introductions can be contained before they develop into large outbreaks.
To prepare for the potential importation of Ebola cases, WHO Philippines and the Department of Health’s (DoH) Research Institute for Tropical Medicine embarked on a series of trainings for health workers to increase capacity to rapidly detect, isolate and safely care for Ebola cases within the health system, both public and private. The focus of the workshops was on hospitals since it is highly likely that, if EVD occurs in a country, patients will be identified and managed within the hospital system.
Training was also provided to hospital and public health professionals, including staff from the DoH’s Health Emergency Management Bureau and the National Centre for Health Promotion at both regional and national levels.
The trainings were developed and taught by the Philippines DoH, the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine, in collaboration with the WHO and assisted by consultants from Johns Hopkins Hospital and Tropical Health Solutions. To date, 350 health workers from 50 hospitals have benefited from the training. Following the training, an overwhelming 96 percent of participants felt more prepared in the clinical management of an Ebola case.
Due to the success of the training, additional workshops are planned into 2015. WHO is committed to supporting the Philippines DoH in the effective detection, isolation, diagnosis and treatment of Ebola, should a case be imported.
The following pages outline the modules used for the training course.
Content of the lectures was current as at November 19, 2014. However, since the knowledge about Ebola is accumulating rapidly and the epidemiology of the West African outbreak is dynamic, please update presentation before using them.
The workshop used the Philippine DoH’s interim guidelines on the management of EVD as the foundation document for activities relevant to country-specific action. If this workshop is adapted for use in other settings, the specific guidelines of that country should be used.