By 31 August 2025, the SOLIDAR Project “Together in Health Emergencies”, a project by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by GFA Consulting Group GmbH, completed its Basic Life Support and First Aid (BLS–FA) training programme.  

Implemented in collaboration with the ASEM–IHSPRD Consortium, the BLS–FA programme targeted doctors and nurses working in SOLIDAR’s priority 24/7 health centres, municipal hospitals, and surrounding PHC facilities. The programme was designed to address a long-standing gap in Albania’s health emergency system: ensuring that the first medical professionals to encounter a critical patient, often in remote or underserved areas, have the practical skills and clinical confidence to act decisively in the minutes that matter most. 

Following pilot and rollout phases, training intensified between November 2024 and August 2025. By the end of April 2025, more than 80% of planned BLS–FA sessions had been delivered, reaching 856 doctors and nurses, a significant scale-up from the 193 professionals trained by October 2024. By August 2025, every planned session for staff at target PHC facilities was complete. Final results exceeded expectations: 1,094 doctors and nurses were trained and certified in BLS–FA, surpassing the original target. In total, more than 1,200 health professionals participated in the programme. 

The curriculum combined evidence-based theoretical input with intensive hands-on practice. Participants strengthened their competencies in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), airway management, the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and the first-aid response to medical emergencies most frequently encountered at PHC level, from cardiac arrest and stroke to trauma, severe bleeding, and obstructed airways. 

To embed long-term sustainability, SOLIDAR also invested in a national pool of in-house trainers. Two Training-of-Trainers sessions held on 24–26 April 2025 and 1–3 May 2025 certified 30 doctors and nurses, drawn from across the target health facilities. These trainers are now positioned to deliver in-house refresher training and cascade learning within the national health system, ensuring that BLS–FA competencies remain current and reach new and rotating staff long after the project closes.

The completion of this training component significantly strengthens Albania’s network of 24/7 health centres, municipal hospitals, and adjacent PHC facilities, improving their collective ability to respond promptly and effectively to medical emergencies. The achievement directly advances SOLIDAR’s second outcome on strengthening emergency medical services at PHC level and contributes to the wider goal of the Swiss Cooperation in Albania: ensuring that people across the country, including the most vulnerable, have access to high-quality emergency care when every minute counts.

With this milestone reached, SOLIDAR reaffirms its commitment in support to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and Albanian PHC institutions, to building a skilled, confident, and sustainable emergency care workforce ready to act decisively and save lives.