Date: 2017-09-05 19:47:21 ID: 1704
Dakar, Senegal, 4 September 2007 – The West Africa Health Organisation (WAHO) organises from 4 to 6 September 2017 a training workshop on the regulations covering International Transportation of Infectious Substances in line with the standards of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
This workshop, which is being organised in Dakar, aims at providing participants with the requisite skills to handle potentially dangerous pathogens, properly process documentation and reduce the risk of infection in line with the regulation on the dispatch of infectious substances, such as those used in medical research and laboratory testing.
In his opening speech, the Minister of health and social welfare of Senegal, represented by the Technical Adviser, underscored the importance of training on regulating dangerous substances, which require that all personnel participating in their transportation should undergo appropriate training so as to transport the substances under good condition of safety and dispatch.
After outlining the objectives of the training workshop, she congratulated WAHO for “this timely initiative, which comes to fulfil the need to build the capacities of epidemic-prone diseases laboratories and particularly facilitates the rapid and safe transportation of samples within the ECOWAS region”.
She also congratulated WAHO for the establishment of the Regional Centre for Disease Surveillance and the network of National Reference Laboratories. The Director General of WAHO, Dr Xavier CRESPIN, represented by Dr Carlos BRITO, Director of the Department of Diseases and Epidemics Control, noted that the rapid and safe transportation of biological samples remained a real challenge in the ECOWAS region, particularly during epidemics, hence the need to organise this training workshop.
The Director General of DHL, Senegal, the Director General of the Pasteur Institute in Dakar and a representative of the Director General of WHO, also commended WAHO’s initiative to build the capacity of all stakeholders in the international transportation of biological samples within the ECOWAS region.
The participants, who are Directors in charge of the transportation of dangerous substances, transporters, airline companies, and national reference laboratory staff, totalling 44 participants, at the end of the training could: (1) Apply technical skills in the dispatch of infectious substances by air; (2) Follow the various stages in the dispatch of infectious substances in line with current directives based on IATA Regulations on dangerous goods; (3) Promote best practices in packaging and storage of infectious substances; and (4) Facilitate the dispatch of infectious substances in line with the current regulations.
