Wearing a surgical mask securely fitted over his nose and mouth, Frans Nambinga, a nurse at Namibia’s Windhoek Central Hospital, carefully marked down tips on triage and signs a patient may require intubation, as he was taking notes during a two-week long training given by the UK- Emergency Medical Team (UK-EMT) visiting the country.

The UK-EMT, which comprised nurses and doctors from across the globe, visited Namibia in August and September, and trained 130 health workers from 10 of Namibia’s 14 regions.

 “As a scientific community, we know so much more about the disease than we did a year ago,” Dr Elias Pavlopolous, a member of the UK-EMT, says. “To help Namibia’s health responders, our team held refresher trainings on how to prevent the spread of infections in hospitals and ways to manage COVID-19 cases with varying levels of severity.”

The training covered everything from patient triage, oxygen therapy, and managing COVID-19 in pregnant women on how to wean patients off oxygen. Trainees also participated in hands-on sessions, in which they practiced using ventilators and donning and doffing protective equipment.

Nambinga said the insights gained were invaluable: “The UK-EMT talked us through different methods of care, like positioning a patient facedown to help them breath more easily and how often to turn critically ill patients to avoid bedsores.”

Nambinga volunteered to work  in the COVID-19 ward of Namibia’s Windhoek Central Hospital as infections in the country began to rise in 2020 and has been on the frontlines ever since.

“I didn’t hesitate at all when the hospital asked for its staff to serve in the COVID unit in 2020,” said Nambinga. The country’s surge in the summer of 2021 was especially devastating, he explained. “We had a very high death rate in June and July.”

During those two months, about 42 in every 100 000 people were infected and two in every 100 000 people infected were dying.

Nambinga described how he and his colleagues were rushed to the frontlines in 2020, willingly putting themselves at-risk to care for Namibia’s population. Armed with basic training on protective clothing, case management, and the characteristics of COVID-19, Namibia’s slightly over 16 000 health workers brought case surges under control. 

The country of 2.5 million, has reported 129,027  cumulative COVID-19 cases, 97% of whom have recovered as of 10 November 2021. “Though we were able to overcome that surge, many people still lost their lives and we never want that to happen again,” Nambinga reflected.

The Deputy High Commissioner of the British High Commission in Namibia Charlotte Fenton explained that this training can help Namibia’s health workers manage a possible fourth wave in the future. The United Kingdom covered the expenses of the UK-EMT visit.

WHO Representative, Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses, expressed his gratitude towards the UK-EMT and noted the facilitation role  WHO played in ensuring that the  team arrives safely in Namibia and is well-adjusted to the Namibian health care system.  WHO also contributed USD 58,000.00 towards the cost of training of the health care workers.