WHO subregional training workshop on laboratory quality management

WHO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, held a subregional training workshop on quality of laboratories. Laboratory services are involved in different phases of alert and response systems, including detection, investigation and response and are one of the eight core capacities required for implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005).

In order to meet the criteria for implementation, public health laboratories should be able to provide reliable and timely identification of infections that may cause public health events of international concern. To build such capacities, a public health laboratory must have an effective laboratory quality management system to ensure the release of the results in a safe, reliable and timely manner. Thus, the main goal of the training workshop was to provide the participants with the necessary information, guidelines and assessment tools, as well as the skills to use them for establishing and strengthening the laboratory quality management system in order to achieve the highest level of accuracy and reliability.

Training on health-promoting schools initiative

A WHO mission to assist in training master trainers on the health-promoting school initiative took place from 6 to 10 April 2013. The workshop trained participants from all areas in Oman on how to analyse and determine interventions for common problems in schools and on how to monitor and assess a Health Promoting School.

Given the high enrolment levels in Oman, schools provide access to the large population of children in the country. The Ministry of Health has collaborated closely with the Ministry of Education in promoting health in schools since 1991, however, the concept of health-promoting schools was not launched until 2004. The programme now includes more than 200 schools and is a model of intersectoral collaboration for health promotion in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Related link

Global school health initiative