The Fleet Street Clinic is committed to keeping journalists safe and well in high risk environments abroad.

The aim of this seminar is to provide a briefing for newsgatherers on the current crisis in West Africa, plus a hands-on training in biohazard protection.

Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1QJ
Thursday 2nd October 2014
9:30 – 14:30

The current outbreak of Ebola virus disease is unprecedented in scale and severity. The affected countries of West Africa do not have the resources or the public health infrastructure necessary to bring the outbreak under control, and massive external intervention will be needed.  How long might it continue? How will it be covered as a news story? Will the need for news put newsgatherers at risk, and if so, how can risks be minimised? How should Ebola be reported upon? What impact is news reporting having upon the regional economy, and the global response?

These are some of the questions we hope to address in a special seminar aimed at print and broadcast media: bureaux chiefs, health & safety managers, and frontline news crew themselves, with a briefing from an internationally renowned expert in the field, and a practical, hands-on training session conducted by an expert in biohazard protection.

The event is free to attend, but places are limited, so please let us know if you would like to attend.

Programme

Speakers:

Professor David Heymann, CBE

David is Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; head of the Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House, London; and chairman of Public Health England, UK. He has frontline experience of working with Ebola in Africa, having personally investigated some of the original outbreaks in central Africa going back to 1976. He is actively involved in the current international response.

Ian Samson

Ian is the EMEA Regional Training Specialist for DuPont Personal Protection. DuPont is currently supplying personal protective equipment to the WHO, MSF and other public health and aid agencies, including tens of thousands of coveralls. Ian’s expertise in this field is well known, and he has previously trained news media personnel during other public health emergencies, such as during news coverage of avian flu in Asia, in 2005/6.

Dr Richard Dawood

Richard is the medical director of the Fleet Street Clinic, a specialist in Travel Medicine, and a consultant to several news media organisations.

Personal Protective equipment will be available for delegate training, supplied by courtesy of DuPont and CES Ltd.