DOHA: As part of social responsibility of the College of Health Sciences (CHS) in Qatar University, 16 public health graduates volunteered at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) through the National Volunteering Campaign initiated by MoPH to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health volunteers joined the Health Protection and Communicable Disease Control Division at MoPH.
During the first two months of the pandemic, public health volunteers supported the team at the ministry in tracking the implementation of some epidemic measures, assessing public needs, and developing awareness plans.
They enhanced public awareness by organising booths in public places and working at the call centre at MoPH to respond to public concerns. They also helped in collecting data about patients in quarantine, and assessing workers’ needs in different settings to plan for distant awareness sessions.
Regarding how important this experience for the public health graduates and for the college, Dr. Hanan Abdul Rahim, the Dean of CHS, said: “Volunteering with MoPH has been a tremendous opportunity for graduates of the Public Health programme to witness up close the tremendous efforts on all fronts, including disease surveillance and community health education, as well as to put into practice what they have been learning in their academic lives. We are very grateful to the colleagues at the Ministry of Public Health for their efforts in mentoring the graduates.”
Regarding her volunteering experience, one of the volunteers said: “As public health graduates we believe that it is a moral duty and professional responsibility to support the team at the ministry in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar. We volunteered at the MoPH and quickly made valuable contribution and became part of a dynamic team. This opportunity enabled us to utilize our health education knowledge and expertise. Our participation was extremely valuable; we have gained hands-on and practical experience and enhanced our capabilities to be better public health educators.”
Public health volunteers are working at the MoPH in morning and evening shifts to support tackling COVID-19 in Qatar. Currently, they are supporting the team at the MoPH in case investigation, contact tracing, data entry and analysis.