PROJECT 082: Capacity Building for Medical Preparedness and Response to CBRN Incidents in the GCC partner countries

Context

Medical preparedness and response to CBRN incidents have been identified as a key priority for partner countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It has highlighted the need to enhance the region’s existing systems for emergency medical response to CBRN events, including natural, accidental, and intentional events.

Responding to this need, Project 82 is being implemented as the first regional project in the GCC under the EU CBRN Centres of Excellence (CoE) Initiative. The project is a cooperation partnership between the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, i.e. the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. The implementation of the project is coordinated between the EU and the CoE Regional Secretariat for the GCC in Abu Dhabi, the Ministries of Health of the Gulf Countries, the International Science and Technology Centre (ISTC), and UNICRI, making this a unique project in the CoE Initiative.

The project builds on expertise and tools developed in the Middle East through former Project 54, which was successfully implemented in Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as similar projects in Southeastern and Eastern Europe (P88) and Southeast Asia (P98).

Partner countries in the GCC region envisage a third phase of the project in which they are looking to facilitate the proper transfer of knowledge, tackle specialised medical response topics, such as, the psychological impact of CBRN incidents or acute radiation medical interventions and build national capacities to manage complex CBRN incidents in the region sustainably.

Overall objective

This project aims to enhance medical preparedness and response capabilities to CBRN incidents in the GCC region.

Specific objectives

• Contribute to a sustainable training framework in the region to ensure a continuous national and regional capacity for training future generations of paramedics, doctors, and nurses on the management of casualties of CBRN accidents and other incidents.

Activities

• 1^st Train-the-Trainers 2-week course held in March 2023 at the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence Academy with 55 medical professionals.
• 2^nd Train-the-Trainers 2-week course held in November 2024 at the Emirates Health Services (EHS) Training and Development Center in the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE, for an additional 60 medical professionals from the GCC.
• Supporting national trainings in the UAE and Kuwait in February 2025, and in Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain by the end of 2025.
• Initiating Phase 3 plan of activities for the period 2026-2027 with more specialised training and technical exchanges.

Expected results

• Established national training centres in each country that provide continuous training on the medical management of CBRN casualties.
• Broadened the knowledge of CBRN incidents and effective management across all public and private healthcare sectors and rescue services to enhance national readiness.
• Established a regional network of medical professionals in the GCC to exchange experiences, SOPs, and coordinate across borders through exercises and provide interoperable support during major incidents.

Achievements

The specialised train-the-trainers courses enhanced the capabilities of over 100 prospective trainers in emergency medical preparedness and response for CBRN events.

• Trained trainers are fully equipped to train first- and second-line medical response teams in their respective partner countries.
• A regional network has been established, comprising all participants in this training course, including direct responders to medical CBRN emergencies, as well as institutions and national training centres that will offer regionally and internationally recognised training programs in this field.
• Further national training, building on P82 knowledge transfers and best practices, is already underway in the UAE and Kuwait, where over 250 armed forces personnel and public health workers have been trained to date to support CBRN incident management.
• Kuwait enhanced the medical readiness of the State of Kuwait in dealing with radiation emergencies by organising an EU-supported Radiation Emergency Training course on “Medical Response to Radiation Emergencies” in June 2024.[1]

[1] https://cbrn-risk-mitigation.network.europa.eu/news-1/kuwait-enhances-medical-readiness-radiation-emergency-training-2024-07-26_en