Global Health Save The Children Ebola Programme

During the Ebola outbreak, CRIMEDIM designed and implemented an innovative training programme in partnership with Save the Children International (SCI) and their Ebola response team.

This pre-deployment training program is designed to ensure adequate safety of humanitarian workers, increasing staff confidence and creating a safe and realistic environment where trainees can gain essential basic and advanced skills.

It is based on an innovative hybrid simulation model, combining Virtual Reality Simulation (XVR-Virtual Reality training software for safety and security), mannequins, task-trainers and actual equipment.

Staff are walked through a Virtual Reality version of a Ebola Treatment Center (ETC), enabling them to familiarize themselves with the high-risk environment and to practice complex protocols ‘in place’ at the actual ETC setting.

By immersion in an highly realistic environment through the visualization of the virtual ETC on a screen or on the wall, the trainees are asked to accomplish competency-based specific tasks and to hone precise operational skill sets using real equipment and performing procedures on mannequins.

These skill set focus on the use of PPEs, peripheral venous cannulation, isolated blood drawing, cleaning and bathing the patient, the removal of bodily remains, and the safe disposal of dead bodies.


This innovative combination of tools with procedures led to a positive impact on the learning outcomes through facilitating greater knowledge gain and procedural skill acquisition