Posted on 29 May 2006
The country’s preparedness for emerging infectious diseases including the much-dreaded human influenza pandemic has achieved a major milestone with the completion of nine (9) regional trainings on the surveillance, prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases (EID) which benefited a total of 384 health practitioners nationwide.
The last leg of the training caravan was completed in Zamboanga City last May 23-26 for a total of 27 key health practitioners of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Experts from the National Epidemiology Center (NEC) and Program for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) of the DOH collaborated with technical consultants from PRIMEX in training mostly local government doctors who would be in the frontline of the fight against emerging infections.
The nine regional trainings were held in Baguio City (March 13-17 for Regions I, II, III and Cordillera Administrative Region and March 27-31 for Regions IV-A, IV-B and V); Tacloban City (March 21-24) for Region VIII; Cebu City (March 21-24) for Regions VI and VII; Cagayan de Oro City (April 3-7) for Region X; Davao City (April 3-7) for Regions XI, XII and CARAGA; Dipolog City (April 24-28) for Region IX; Pasay City (April 24-28) for the National Capital Region; and Zamboanga City (May 23-26) for the ARMM.
The series of trainings followed a Training of Trainors held last February at Manila’s Kimberly Hotel which gathered 43 trainors, mostly regional epidemiologists and program coordinators for emerging infectious diseases from each region.
DOH Undersecretary Ethylyn Nieto said the possibility of a pandemic may be lessened if capabilities of local government units (LGUs) for surveillance are strengthened.
“The success in surveillance experienced before during the SARS outbreak must be repeated for Avian Influenza this time,” Nieto challenged the participants at the Training of Trainors.
Leading the list of resource speakers from the Department of Health were Dr Luningning Villa, program manager of the Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases Unit of the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC) and Dr Enrique Tayag, OIC Director of the National Epidemiology Center (NEC). They were joined by Dr. Ponciano Aberin, head of DOH-Cordillera’s People with Disability Affairs; Dr Agnes Benegas, head of Surveys, Evaluation and Risk Assessment Division of the NEC; Dr Marlow Niñal, head of Public Health Surveillance and Informatics Division of the NEC; Dr Aleli Sudiacal of the Environment and Occupational Health Division, NCDPC; Dr Vito Roque, head of the Public Health Surveillance Unit of the NEC; and Dr Manuel Mapue II from the Epidemiology and Medical Research of the NEC.
At the regional trainings, the job of the resource persons was complemented by their regional counterparts who were trained during the Training of Trainors.
The three-day training course covered six modules including a) introduction, b) overview of SARS, Meningococcemia and other Emerging and Reemerging Infections; c) Avian Influenza d) Surveillance and Response; e) Scenarios and Exercises, and f) Planning and Local Preparedness and Response.
The conduct of the series of trainings formed a major component of the Asian Development Bank- Regional Technical Assistance (RETA) to support the Surveillance, Prevention and Control of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Avian Influenza (AI), and Other Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) (RETA 6108) which is being implemented by PRIMEX, Inc.
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