15 June, 2020 – PAHO Suriname and the OpenWHO team in Geneva launched the first COVID-19 Course fully translated into Dutch. The course, How to Put On and Remove Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is one of 10 courses in the OpenWHO COVID-19 module available for translation into various national languages. To ably respond to the pandemic, health program managers, hospital medical directors and front-line health workers need quick access to training modules on various elements of the COVID-19 response, preferably in their native language. In Suriname, while many health care workers speak both languages, Dutch and English, there is still a need for the dissemination of technical guidelines to even more health care workers to prepare for surge capacity, task sharing and the implementation of intersectoral teams especially at the first level of care.
The PAHO Suriname team is already working on translating three additional courses: Infection Prevention and Control; Hand Hygiene; and Clinical Management. All of these OpenWHO courses will be accompanied by locally developed training videos featuring Surinamese health care workers discussing the guidelines in each of these areas. These courses will facilitate improved capacity among health workers in Suriname and will be shared with the various health partners including the Ministry of Health, the Regional Health Services, the Medical Mission, the Nursing School and Faculty of Medical Sciences.
