Bangladesh: International course on management of cholera, invasive diarrhea, and malnutrition in emergency

Background:

With tremendous improvement of public health, cholera, invasive diarrheas and under nutrition have become a remote possibility in the developed world. However, this comes with low immunity among the population and inadequate skill among the physicians because of less chance of exposure and opportunity of practicing the proper management respectively. On the other hand, the developing world and the emergency stricken places may not have adequate resource to manage the threat, which may cause a great loss of human lives in the days to come. Therefore, we need to be prepared through enhancing the capacity of managing such menaces across the globe.

Each year the hospitals at International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) treat more than 100,000 diarrhea patients including those with cholera, invasive diarrheas and under nutrition. Dhaka hospital at icddr,b alone has the experience of treating more than one thousand patients a day with limited resources and the mortality has always been less than one percent. In the past, it has trained hundreds of Programme Officers, and Health Specialists, WES personnel and other relevant staffs from international organizations (IOs), non-government organizations (NGOs), UN agencies, universities and Ministry of Health (MoH) who respond to the health needs of populations affected by diarrheal epidemics. Photographs below shows the participants from Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Palestine, Afghanistan, Japan, USA, China, Uzbekistan, Angola, Uganda, Indonesia, Bangladesh etc attending this type of course in the past.

Course description and objectives

The course aims at transforming all health, WES, and relevant personnel into efficient human resources in order to reduce morbidity and mortality caused by cholera, invasive diarrhea and under nutrition in emergency situation. It is largely a participatory course, which focuses on the clinical and programmatic management and includes deductive instructions, bedside and practical sessions and discussion, case studies, videos and exercises. The purpose is to strengthen the capacity of the national institutions, international organizations (IOs) and non-government organization (NGOs) and relevant others in managing cholera, invasive diarrhea and under nutrition with a special focus on emergencies in resource poor settings.

Course Content

• Epidemiology and transmission of diarrheal diseases including cholera and shigellosis
• Clinical management of cholera, invasive diarrhea including shigellosis, persistent diarrhoea and under nutrition.
• Bed side clinical sessions and hands on training on management of acute watery diarrhea (AWD), invasive diarrhea, persistent diarrhea and under nutrition
• Demonstration of Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) and diets in diarrheal diseases and under nutrition
• Investigation and management of diarrheal disease outbreak in an emergency
• Role of diagnostic laboratory in the outbreak
• Prevention and control of diarrheal diseases in a disaster situation.
• Role of water treatment and sanitation in emergencies in managing cholera and other diarrheal diseases
• Emergency water supply, sanitation and hygiene practices in an urban slum: a model that could be replicated in an emergency
• Determining requirements for and operating a makeshift cholera treatment centrein a disasters situation
• Management of children with under nutrition at a rehabilitation unit in post disaster situations
• Role of non medical persons in managing cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases when there is not enough medical persons in emergencies

Target group

• International and SAARC country participants: Programme Officers, Health and WES personnel and other relevant staffs who respond to the health needs of populations affected by cholera and invasive diarrhoea epidemics and malnutrition.
• National: Medical graduates.

Expected outcome

The course is expected to have impact at two levels: individual participants and participants' organizations. The individuals taking the course are expected on return to apply the core strategies and tasks learned in the course to actual epidemic situations, and influence, and improve the operations of their organizations' capacity in responding to cholera and invasive diarrheal outbreaks which may be followed by under nutrition.

Please apply online at http://training.icddrb.org/siteinfo/circularDetail?1=1&view=174

For any further information please contact-

Dr. Md. Manirul Islam

Email: ted@icddrb.org

Phone:9827001-10, ext: 3509

Cell: 880-1713198880

Training Physician

Technical Training Unit

icddr,b