Chinese Medical Team trains Sierra Leonean medical workers in combating COVID-19 in April 2020

Project narrative

In spring 2020, a Chinese medical team sent by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (an institute under the National Health Commission) trained Sierra Leonean medical workers to help the latter combat COVID-19, as Sierra Leone registered its first case on March 31, 2020. As of April 6, 2020, the medical team trained around 100 medical workers in Sierra Leone. The medical team has helped medical workers with specific training, including the proper way to wear masks. This medical team is one of fourteen sent to Africa by the National Health Commission of China to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical team's visit included a two day training session held on March 27th-28th, 2020. The training course consisted of two parts, theory and practice, presided over by Doris, Director of the Laboratory Management Division of the Ministry of Health of Sierra Leone. Fifteen technical officers and managers from Sierra Leone's Southern and Western Provinces participated in the training. The theoretical training consisted of laboratory management strategy in times of crisis, classification of COVID infection symptoms, transmission, global epidemic situation, and China's prevention and control strategies and experience, how to improve the quality of collection of suspected case samples, and COVID-19 clinical laboratory preparation and response guidance plan. On the second day, practical training was conducted in the clinical laboratory of Bo City Government Hospital, including how the sampling personnel should do a good job in personal protection, as well as the collection, packaging, transfer and receiving process of samples from suspected cases of COVID.