8 December 2019, Tripoli, Libya – Support from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development has enabled WHO and the Ministry of Health in Libya to revitalize primary health care services by building the capacity of 58 nurses from south, east and west Libya in Tripoli and Al-Bayda. The nurses were provided with an opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills in the areas of family health care, ethics, communications, health promotion and clinical areas such as triage, first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Nurse Fatma from the Al-Manra Primary Health Care Centre in Tobruk said she greatly benefited from the interactive discussions.

“I learned a lot by simply listening to other participants describe their nursing experiences. And I learned new practical skills such as CPR. I hope that I’ll be given similar training opportunities in the future.”

Nurse Ekram from the Al-Share Elgarbi Primary Health Care Centre in Tripoli was also enthusiastic about the workshop.

“I hope that my colleagues will be able to benefit from future training. This is the first time since I graduated 10 years ago that I’ve had refresher training to update my skills. The trainers really understood the intense demands made on us and the daily challenges of being a nurse in Libya.”

Ms Elizabeth Hoff, WHO Representative in Libya, said that the workshop was part of a series of training courses that aimed to reconstruct and revitalize the nursing workforce in the country.

“We also supported a training-of-trainers workshop for the primary health care nursing workforce in November 2019,” Ms Hoff said.

“Nurses are the backbone of the primary health care system; investing in them will improve health care services throughout the country and help save lives,” she added.