Healthcare workers from Azerbaijan enrolled to 15,000 courses on OpenWHO platform in 2021

The ceremony was organised to highlight projects’ support to COVID-19 response, to acknowledge the contribution of healthcare facilities and healthcare workers to continuing medical education activities and to handover the infection prevention and control supplies.

The event was held with participation of Dr. Nadir Zeynalov, Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Vugar Gurbanov, Head of the Administration of Regional Medical Divisions (TABIB), Dr Hande Harmanci, WHO Representative/Head of Country Office in Azerbaijan, Mr Peter Michalko, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Azerbaijan, as well as healthcare workers from different regions of the country.

During the event, activities conducted in the framework of COVID-19 pandemic response as well as the main achievements acquired in the two projects were presented. It was noted that in a short period of time, over 7,000 healthcare workers were trained face to face on “COVID-19 Vaccination”, “COVID-19 Case Management”, “Basic Life Support” and “Advanced Life Support” at 15 training centers across the country. 

Besides face-to-face training, WHO Azerbaijan promoted online learning opportunities and launched Azerbaijan page in the OpenWHO platform. OpenWHO is an interactive, evidence-based, knowledge-transfer platform offering online courses prepared by the WHO experts to improve the response to health emergencies. Health care workers from Azerbaijan enrolled to 15,000 courses on OpenWHO platform in 2021. 

Along with this, 50 health facilities and health care workers were acknowledged for their support and active participation in the continuous medical education activities within EU-WHO projects. At the end of the event, 1,000 hand hygiene dispensers, 2,000 litres of hand disinfectant, 3,000 small hand disinfectants (100 ml) and 3,000 belt clips were handed over to TABIB as part of the Solidarity for Health Initiative to strengthen infection prevention and control measures in the healthcare facilities. 

The “Solidarity for Health Initiative” is an EU-funded project being implemented by WHO Office in Azerbaijan since April 2020 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.

The EU-funded “COVID-19 Vaccination Support” project implemented by WHO Office in Azerbaijan since June 2021 covers three years and aims at fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening daily immunization programs in Azerbaijan.