Health care professionals are crucial in ensuring the respect of human rights, especially within the complex and challenging context of biomedical and health fields. Ethical and human rights principles serve as fundamental guides for navigating the often-difficult decisions and situations that arise in healthcare. These principles are not only essential for protecting the dignity and rights of patients but also for fostering trust in the relationships with patients.
As part of its comprehensive response package to the refugee influx in Armenia, and to support the Government of Armenia in its efforts to integrate healthcare professionals from Karabakh region into the healthcare system in Armenia, the Council of Europe, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Health, has designed and launched a series of capacity-building activities on key human rights principles in healthcare and biomedicine, as well as on rights and responsibilities of healthcare professionals.
Between March and July of 2024, around 150 refugee healthcare professionals have already participated in such capacity building events and have refreshed their knowledge and built new professional capacity.
The events were designed in a way to cover their specific professionals needs and equip them with knowledge, skills and tools for their easy navigation in the healthcare field in line not only with national, but also European standards. Principles of informed consent for any medical intervention, medical secret and confidentiality, ethical rules for healthcare professionals were thoroughly introduced to the professionals, along with other fundamental topics such as the right to health protection, reproductive health rights, human rights in emergency situations and etc.
Participation in the trainings was also officially recognized as per the procedure required for the professional activities as a medical professional in Armenia, and 10 continuous professional development (CPD) credits have been granted upon successful completion of these trainings.
With its their primary objective to empower the healthcare professionals with relevant knowledge and skills, the capacity building events have also revealed another benefit which healthcare professionals from Karabakh region received during the events. “Here in Armenia, key human rights principes in the provision of healthcare services are crucial and we had the opportunity to gain them.”, as mentioned by one of the participants. “It is a joy for us to be together again, sometimes it feels we are back to Karabakh, as we rarely gather with our community here in Armenia. We cannot stop talking to one another like good old days”, another participant added.
The capacity building events were organised by the Council of Europe as part of its Project on “Protection of Human Rights in Biomedicine II” implemented within the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2023-2026.
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