The Ministry of Health (MOH), through the Jeddah Health Affairs Directorate's Health Awareness Ambassador Program, has provided a number of awareness programs in Hajj at the Pilgrims City of King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA), benefiting 95,458 pilgrims from some Arab, Asian and African countries, as well as pilgrims from Europe.
Until last Thursday, 89,531 pilgrims of different nationalities, benefited from the health awareness programs and services, and 74,301 educational brochures have been disseminated to pilgrims. The program aims at spreading health awareness among pilgrims, directly at their locations, and in their own languages, in order for them to better understand and apply them.
It is noteworthy that the MOH, represented by the Health Affairs Directorate in Makkah Region and Jeddah Province, have held a number of training courses, which target volunteers of the health awareness ambassadors program in this year's Hajj, with the aim of making the program successful. At the beginning of the month of Dhu al-Qi'dah, a number of training courses were launched at Dallah Academy for Volunteer Work, including face-to-face lectures for pilgrims, using posters in different sizes which show ways of prevention. Also, the volunteers have received a training program covering three main topics: communication skills, volunteer work ethics and awareness messages which are the focal points for the pilgrims, as well as training the volunteers on the proper methods of participation, the means to deliver the message to pilgrims and that the awareness is in the pilgrim's own language, with the availability translators.
It is worth mentioning that the MOH's health awareness ambassador program has made remarkable quantum leaps since its establishment. It managed to offer successful awareness programs and encourage health institutes and medical students to involve in voluntary work and positively participate in community activities, mainly serving pilgrims in a way that befitting the status of the two holy mosques.