TEHRAN – A total of 50 health officials from across the country have participated in a five-day workshop on urban warfare and health system preparedness.

The workshop was held from October 4 to 9 by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Health officials received special training to better prepare for and respond to emergencies that happen during urban conflicts, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on November 10.

This training is part of UNICEF’s Conflict Preparedness Initiative. The main goal is to ensure Iran’s health system can respond promptly and effectively to emergencies arising from urban conflict situations.

Health officials and emergency coordinators from hospitals and health networks attended the workshop, learning how to plan and prepare for conflict situations, keep essential health services running even during a crisis, handle the high demand for emergency care and extra health services during urban warfare situations, and build a stronger, more resilient health system that can bounce back quickly.

This workshop was the first of four planned events. Two more training sessions will be held in the coming months, followed by a special “Training of Trainers” (ToT) workshop. This will create a group of experts who can then train more health staff across the country.

Strengthening emergency health response

In an effort to ensure Iran’s health system is strong and ready to protect everyone, especially the most vulnerable, when a crisis strikes, UNICEF has procured portable tents and rapid-response backpacks.

It is a step forward to ensure that children, women, and everyone in need can access medical care during a disaster or emergency. They are focusing on two projects to help people immediately, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on November 4.

When an earthquake or flood hits, regular clinics can be damaged. To fix this, UNICEF is buying special, easy-to-use Primary Health Care (PHC) Emergency Portable Tents.

Here’s why these tents are important:

Care for Everyone: They make sure people still get basic medical care, and they are specially set up to help pregnant women and even assist with giving birth.

Ready to Go: They are lightweight and designed to be set up very quickly, even in remote or hard-to-reach areas.

Full Clinic in a Tent: Each tent is fully equipped, like a small hospital unit. It can give essential health services to about 200 people every single day.

They’ve been tested! This idea worked great after the Kermanshah earthquake, and now 10 tents are being delivered to different areas.

Quick-Action Backpacks for Health Teams
Emergencies can also cause the rapid spread of diseases (epidemics). To stop this, UNICEF has procured rapid response backpacks.

These backpacks let health teams:

Be Fast Diagnosers: They contain tools and equipment to quickly investigate a disease outbreak and determine its cause.

Give First Aid: They have essential supplies for giving immediate first aid and basic care to affected people.

Go Anywhere: They are lightweight and easy to carry, so health workers can quickly reach people in remote areas, even where clinics are broken.

Keep Working: These allow health workers to continue providing care and looking for problems for several days without needing to return to a main clinic.

UNICEF is making sure these quick-action backpacks are delivered to health teams, and they will also train the staff on how to use them best.

MT/MG