Havana, November 10 (RHC)-- The first international course on the prevention and fight against the Ebola virus in the Americas begins Monday at Havana´s Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute.

The initiative came out of a technical meeting by experts, which was held October 29th and 30th in Cuba with the participation of medical specialists from 34 nations of the region and representatives of the World and Pan-American Health organizations.

Prensa Latina news agency reports that along with the international course, the meeting proposed to take actions like the setting up epidemiological surveillance systems to receive people coming from areas with Ebola transmission risk, as well as the reinforcement of relations between sectors at different terminals to get information on transportation means, their crews and travelers arriving to the countries.

Also included is the exchange of experiences in the fight against Ebola, with each country defining the route to send samples to labs of international reference, as well as the standardization of criteria on the use of personal protection equipment. Such equipment must be made available at preferential prices for immediate distribution in case of emergency.

Information through different media aimed at the vulnerable population was also a main proposal, with priority for health care workers. The meeting revealed the will of the countries of this region to join efforts in fighting the epidemic that has claimed nearly 5,000 lives in Western Africa.