24 August, Amman – The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the WHO country office in Jordan and the WHO infectious hazard preparedness programme of the Department of Health Emergencies at the WHO Regional Office, is conducting a 5-day training of trainers workshop for national and subnational rapid response teams in Jordan from 22 to 26 August 2021.

The training course aims to ensure a prompt and effective response to public health hazards with a focus on influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory emerging diseases epidemics and reduce morbidity and mortality by being adequately prepared in managing outbreaks. The training will enable participants and facilitators to plan, organize, deliver and evaluate rapid response teams training adapted to specific country contexts, needs and constraints. Participants from areas of work in disease control and prevention, environmental health, emergency/disaster risk management are attending.

The training of trainers’ methodology is based on in-service training and adult learning principles, which ensures active involvement of participants. In addition to 'hard skills' reinforced through technical sessions, the agenda includes a number of sessions intended to create a conductive learning environment and reinforce 'soft skills'.

In his opening remarks Dr Ghazi Sharkas, Assistant Secretary General of Primary Health Care Administration at the Ministry of Health, emphasized the importance of this initiative to review rapid response teams using the "One health" approach with different partners. “Countries that were prepared in rapid response did a great job in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the right time to further build capacities,” Dr Sharkas added.

Dr Jamela Al-Raiby, acting WHO Representative to Jordan, thanked all the participants for their continuous interest and dedication to the learning process as they work together with the Ministry of Health and health sector of the Ministry of Agriculture to enhance a prompt and effective response to public health hazards with a focus on influenza, COVID-19 and other emerging respiratory diseases, while reducing morbidity and mortality to the minimum. “This course comes at a time when Jordan and the rest of the world are experiencing an unprecedented pandemic caused by COVID-19, making this knowledge and set of skills more important than ever,” she stressed.