United States Mission Sierra Leone
Press Release
Freetown December 19, 2017
Contact: Emily Green
Tel: 099 105 500 ext.
USAID’s Achievement in Promoting Infection Prevention Control in Sierra Leone
On December 19th 2018, International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with Njala University hosted a graduation ceremony for 100 students representing 18 institutions for the successful completion of Infection Prevention Control (IPC) certificate course.
USAID provided 3 million dollars for a 3-year project to establish IPC short courses and mobile training with the University of Sierra Leone and Njala University. During the Ebola Outbreak, USAID supported IOM to implement IPC Phase 1 delivering emergency IPC trainings across the country reaching over 11,000 medical practitioners. IPC Phase 2 the “Establishment of an IPC Short Course Department” at the university level aims were to deliver static and mobile training to final year clinical and non-clinical students, establish IPC simulation skills lab, establish ICT lab for improved access to research and distance learning, and institutionalize permanent certificate pre-service short courses.
Since 2017, 11 certified tutors have delivered 10-day clinical and five-day non-clinical courses to over 3,000 students to ensure that these future healthcare professionals receive sound IPC training before they embark on their careers. While addressing the graduates Cynthia Macaully, USAID Health specialist states that these students are the “future health care workers, armed with critical skills to promote simple, but lifesaving health practices to protect themselves, their future patients and communities.”
This project has contributed to the overall goal of the Government’s Health System Strengthening plan to maintain zero Ebola Virus Disease, to prevent, detect and respond to epidemics. This project has provided an IPC simulation skills lab for practical training. Although, project has ended clinical and non-clinical courses have been institutionalized at Njala University and classes will commence in 2019. The clinical course will be compulsory for all healthcare students and the non-clinical will be offered as an elective. In addition the IPC certificate courses will be a reality on the University’s Learning Management System for all Njala University students.
For additional information, please visit the website of implementing partners: https://www.iom.int/countries/sierra-leone
