In the wake of the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in some West African countries and in Democratic Republic of Congo, the Israeli government has offered to assist Cameroon to fight against Ebola epidemic. The Ministry of Public Health in Cameroon responded promptly by accepting the assistance of the Israeli government. In this regard, the Embassy of Israel in Cameroon and the World Health Organisation with the team in charge of the Ebola epidemic of the Ministry of Health in Israel worked together intensively to bring two medical doctors, who were very interested to share their experiences with the Ministry of Public Health in Cameroon and other medical personnel. This is in order to increase their efforts to effectively fight against the Ebola epidemic in Cameroon.

The mission of the two medical doctors, Dr. Shepherd Roee Singer and Dr. Pnina Shitrit, is to train medical personnel in Cameroon. Their objective is to train more than 100 medical personnel in health centres, hospitals, the military and fire brigade, in order to effectively prevent the Ebola epidemic or contain it, in case of an outburst of the epidemic in Cameroon.

 

The visit will run for 5 days and will take place in various institutions in Yaounde. Delegated medical personnel from all the regions of Cameroon will also participate in these workshops. Most importantly, the trainees of these workshops will train other medical personnel in other regions so as to disseminate the measures to prevent and contain the epidemic throughout the Cameroon. The workshops will also serve as an opportunity to share experiences and exchange with the Ministry of Public Health to fight against the Ebola epidemic, in particular and other epidemics in general.   

 

The launching of the workshops took place at the Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Paediatrics Hospital in Yaoundé on 8th September 2014. The Director of the hospital, Professor Angwafor III, in his speech during the launching ceremony of the workshop, thanked the Embassy of Israel for its participation in fighting the Ebola epidemic and also recognised the constant assistance of Israel around the world. He said that these workshops will enable medical personnel to be able to detect, contain and prevent the Ebola epidemic.

These workshops are an expression of the good relationship between the State of Israel and the Republic of Cameroon and, we hope, will contribute to the enhancement of bilateral cooperation between both countries.