Earlier this month, in an effort to increase awareness among the AUB University Libraries' staff members, Dr. Ola El Zein, Head of Saab Medical Library, took the initiative to deliver awareness sessions based on a training course entitled "COVID-19 Awareness - Training of Trainers".
Two sessions were done in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), the World Health Organization, the Lebanese Red Cross (LRC), the Lebanese Medical Students International Committee (LeMSIC) and UNICEF and were delivered to Library staff by El Zein herself, along with Rachad Ghazal and Haroutioun Garabedian, both Med II students at AUB.
With the current closure of universities and schools in Lebanon, more sessions will be delivered as part of this initiative, with the help of LRC, targeting different local communities and sectors, including municipalities, villages, and others. This will be an ongoing initiative to create and sustain awareness across the country.
Since the number of sessions which can be delivered face-to-face is limited, El Zein will be part of the "LeMSIC COVID-19 Online Awareness Campaign". The purpose of the campaign is to ensure an online presence and platform to cater for the community's concerns and questions via social media channels, using the following hashtags: #FactsNotRumors or إن_لم_تسأل_لن_تعرف#
When asked about this initiative, El Zein said that she believes that in such urgent and delicate situations, individuals are responsible and should be well informed and prepared.