EU-WHO projects keep supporting the Continuing Professional Development of healthcare workers in the context of COVID-19

The event was held with participation of Mr Niyazi Bayramov, Head of Ganja City Executive Authority, Dr Hande Harmanci, WHO Representative/Head of Country Office in Azerbaijan, experts from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance, the Management Union of Medical Territorial Units (TABIB) and the Regional Development Public Union (RIIB), specialists from the Turkish universities such as Ondokuz Mayis, Hacettepe, Ege, Dokuz Eylul, as well as from the local nursing schools, regional central hospitals, medical facilities in Ganja and national training centers.

During the event, WHO Country Office project leads presented the results of the interim evaluation of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities of health professionals in the context of COVID-19 in Azerbaijan. The Turkish specialists conducted a mini-symposium on CPD of health professionals focusing on roles and responsibilities of the nursing profession, basic concepts in health professionals’ education, effectiveness of training programs, as well as improvement of skills of health professionals. A separate roundtable discussion moderated by Dr Harmancı was devoted to the nursing education in Azerbaijan, its current status and future directions.  

The EU-WHO training courses on COVID-19 vaccination, basic and advanced life support and COVID-19 case management have been conducted in fifteen training centers located in different regions of Azerbaijan including Ganja Nursing School since the 1st of July, 2021. The training program conducted within the EU-funded and WHO-implemented projects, “COVID-19 Vaccination Support” and “Solidarity for Health Initiative”, in cooperation with the Regional Development Public Union will continue till the end of December. As of today, totally 5,240 health workers have been trained; 1,850 on COVID-19 vaccination, 200 on COVID-19 case management, 3,000 and 190 on basic and advanced life support, respectively. 

Since June, 2021, the EU-funded “COVID-19 Vaccination Support” project implemented by World Health Organization covers three years to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen daily immunization programs in six Eastern Partnership countries including Azerbaijan. 

The “Solidarity for Health Initiative” is also an EU-funded project being implemented by WHO Office in Azerbaijan to support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The project aims to help build a sustainable response capacity to potential pandemics in the future.

These projects are part of the continued support of the European Union and the WHO to Azerbaijan.