MOH: Macedonia Takes Part in International Project Against COVID-19

Starting Thursday, Macedonia is one of the countries where two important international projects to combat coronavirus will be implemented. Namely, the World Health Organization has confirmed the participation of the country in the program “Solidarity”, which is a large, international study designed to provide data on the most effective treatment of patients with COVID-19. The purpose of the study is to define the efficacy of 5 therapeutic options to treat patients with COVID-19 within defined protocols. It is a multicenter program that has so far involved countries from all over the world. The Ministry of Health is in constant coordination with the WHO office in the country, which should provide technical and expert support for the realization of the study in accordance with the conditions and criteria. In addition, an online training program named “COVID-19 Response Training” for healthcare professionals has been launched within the Ministry of Health today. The training was developed by “Project HOPE” in conjunction with “Brown University” in the United States and is based on WHO recommendations for tackling disease spread and protecting healthcare professionals, and currently our country is among the first countries in Europe to start the program. Given the fact that many health professionals around the world are suffering from COVID-19, the training will be attended by health professionals, with the primary aim of training medical staff first and foremost to protect themselves and thus be able to provide adequate care in the field of disease prevention and spreading, control of the situation, stabilization of the patients, diagnosis and management of the situation, screening and triage, as well as assessment of the capacity of the health system and its development. At the Macedonian Clinical Center, the training will be attended by 20 doctors and 20 nurses, who will transfer the knowledge gained from the USA experts and the University, to their colleagues, not only in the institutions in Skopje, but also across the country in all Public Health Institutions where staff is present that may come into contact with patients with COVID-19, informs the Ministry of Health.