The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital have launched a three-year online training course for nurses and pediatric staff in Libya, Vatican News reported.
For the first time, the Holy See's hospital is providing distance education in Arabic. This training aims to share the knowledge of Bambino Gesù in research in the clinical field, explained Mariella Enoc, director of the establishment, to the Vatican portal.
While the WHO and the Holy See's hospital had planned to send several caregivers to Libya in 2020, the pandemic made this project impossible, she said.
This is how the idea of launching distance medical education for Libyan caregivers was born, with plans to extend it to other developing countries. Some 156 nurses from the Sabha medical center and the pediatric hospitals in Tripoli and Benghazi have enrolled in the first course of this program, which began a few weeks ago. The program includes courses in neonatology, hematology, cardiology and even cardiac surgery.
As soon as the health situation allows, the Bambino Gesù also plans to organize training in Rome for some Libyan caregivers involved in the project. Note that on May 31, the Holy See was granted the status of "non-member observer state" by the WHO -- a decision that reflects the relationship that the Holy See has had with this organization continuously since 1953.