Within the framework of SESRIC’s IbnSina Health Capacity Building Programme (IbnSina-CaB), SESRIC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey, organised a Training Course on “Epidemiology of Communicable Diseases and the Management of Epidemics” on 04-07 October 2021 through an online video conferencing platform.

The training course was provided by renowned experts who are members of the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board of the Republic of Turkey for the benefit of 60 participants from the Ministries of Health of 17 OIC member countries.

The main objective of the training course was to bring together participants from the Ministries of Health of the OIC member countries to strengthen their technical capacities on different aspects of the topic, including holistic pandemic management and health policies, contact tracing, treatment, diagnosis and intensive care practices in COVID-19 cases, and protective measures.

In his speech at the opening session, H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, Director General of SESRIC, mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic has been a tough exam for the resilience of health systems and countries’ emergency preparedness and response mechanisms worldwide. He added that the pandemic has disrupted the provision and utilization of the routine healthcare services where a large portion of health resources has been shifted to address the outbreak of the pandemic. He underlined that this crisis has once again highlighted the importance of cooperation at the national, regional and global levels, especially in sharing lessons learned during this pandemic for any future global pandemics.

In his welcoming speech, H.E. Dr. Selami KILIÇ, Director General of EU and Foreign Affairs at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey, indicated the need for increased cooperation among the OIC member countries against different dimensions of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed the readiness of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey to cooperate with all stakeholders to share their knowledge and experience. He highlighted Turkey’s contribution to the struggle of different countries and international organizations against COVID-19 and stated that the main way out of this crisis is through international cooperation and solidarity.

In his welcoming remarks, H.E. Amb. Askar MUSSINOV, Assistant Secretary General for S&T of the OIC, briefed the participants on the rapid response of the OIC to the COVID-19 pandemic and the initiatives of the Organization to support the efforts of the Member Countries, including the Islamic Development Bank’s (IsDB) initiative to allocate financial resources and the Islamic Solidarity Fund’s (ISF) account to assist OIC member countries, particularly the least developed countries. He mentioned the OIC targets in the domain of health, among others, include strengthening common surveillance, preventive and control measures to end communicable diseases, and increasing the preparedness and response of the member countries against communicable and infectious diseases. He concluded his remarks by congratulating SESRIC as well as the Ministry of Health of Turkey for organising this capacity building activity on such a crucial topic.

This training course was conducted in line with the virtual solutions undertaken by SESRIC in order to better serve the Centre’s training activities and keep participants motivated and engaged during this challenging time of global crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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