The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), in collaboration with the Epidemiology Directorate of Laboratory and Research and the National Public Health Laboratory of the Ministry of Public Health, organized two training workshops for departmental epidemiologists (Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince).

These sessions allowed to :

• Strengthen participants' knowledge of standards for sample collection, storage, and transport;

• Strengthen technical skills in the approach to active institutional case finding for measles, rubella, and other vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs);

• Raise awareness among surveillance teams at points of entry about the detection and early reporting of measles cases to enable a rapid, consistent, and effective response.

A total of 68 healthcare professionals, including 40 women (59%) and 28 men, from the country's ten health departments benefited from this practical training to improve the quality of epidemiological surveillance and ensure a faster and more effective response to the threat of a measles resurgence in Haiti.

These efforts are part of the measures to strengthen epidemiological surveillance recommended by the regional office to all countries in the region in light of the ongoing measles epidemic in nine countries in the region.

IH/ iciHaiti