In the face of the threat posed by Ebola and similar pandemics, the world seems to have learnt the lesson. The institutional round table organised by the Ministry of Health and similar events around the world underscore the need for coordinated global standards in the field of distance training for health professionals. Faced with an emergency, the system failed, revealing all its critical aspects and potential flaws and demonstrating the need for homogenous information and training of citizens and health professionals alike. Innovative training tools are needed. This why we are introducing the "training film"- what we call "Distance Education" 3.0.
"e-bola" is the first film ever to mix cinema and training, with the aim of using the "virality" of a story -common, real, global - to explain the threat posed by the "virality" of diseases such as Ebola. Consulcesi Club is proud to present a unique audio-visual tool: a captivating and dramatic feature-length film shot in English with the scientific advice of world-class doctors and institutions - such as the "Lazzaro Spallanzani" National Institute for Infectious Diseases and the "Sapienza" University in Rome - that have dealt with the virus first-hand. "e-bola" is the first example of a series of "training films" that will all be viewable online for free, as an innovative and crucial form of "fresher training" for health professionals worldwide. The project, which will be presented during the round table sponsored by the Ministry of Health, aims to create a global coordination system for distance education, to better face present and future health emergencies, in cooperation with Italian and international institutions.
Ebola - says Consulcesi Group CEO Massimo Tortorella - is the first subject of a completely new form of "fresher training". With this film we aim to form health professionals while informing the public at the same time. How? By looking not just at the scientific side of the problem, but also at the tragically true human stories behind it. We have chosen to begin with Ebola because it's the worst epidemic of the 21st century. It's been around for 40 years and we still haven't found a way of eradicating it. The two cases registered in Italy show the dangers to which the health personnel fighting the virus on the frontline is exposed. Information and training are the best weapons they can count on. The aim of "e-bola" is to offer doctors working on the frontline the best tools to deal with the virus and prevent contagion. The fact that the entire Consulcesi Club project is free makes it all the more important.
In the film, a group of young research - members of an elite task force hailing from different European, American and Asian countries - are united by a single objective: to defeat the common enemy, Ebola, a lethal virus first discovered in Sudan and Congo in 1976 which is responsible for more than 27,000 contagions and 11,000 deaths. It is a viral infection that is easily transmitted through blood or body fluids. Through the work of this young team, "e-bola" tells the story of a disease that is by its very nature borderless and supranational, and which affects all human being with no distinction.
It wasn't easy - says the director Christian Marazziti - to write a story based on scientific facts. You always risk becoming too didactic and losing the narrative tension. Cinema and science have always gone hand in hand - the trick is striking the right balance. Which in this case meant telling a gripping story while conveying objective scientific and technical data.
The cinematographic language thus becomes a training and formation tool capable of raising the awareness of citizens and health professionals alike, all across the world. Thanks to the advice of world-class infectologists, the film is scientifically rigorous to point of being also of educational value. The film is supplemented by the "training pills" that contain the actual course approved by AGENAS(National Agency for Regional Health Services), the public institution in charge of supporting the Italian Ministry of Health in the area of Continuing Medical Education (CME), which health professional are obliged to under go by law. An innovative methodology that thanks to Consulcesi Club will soon be available worldwide for free, and is already available in France and the United States.
The Ebola training film can be viewed at www.ebola-movie.com.