RIYADH, Oct 25(Arab News): The National Family Safety Program, in cooperation with the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), has organized a course on ways to tackle child abuse for doctors in Jeddah and Dammam.

Executive director of the program, Dr. Maha Al-Muneef, revealed that more than 300 cases of child abuse were detected in the Kingdom last year.

According to Al-Muneef, the course will be offered by international specialized trainers from Sydney University in Australia and Harvard University and Florida University in the US.

They will be running the course on Oct. 24-25 in Jeddah and Oct. 26-27 in Dammam.

The course, accredited by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, will focus on providing physicians with advanced skills to diagnose and identify cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect among children, as well as ways of dealing with them in light of new scientific research and discoveries.

Al-Muneef pointed out that the course would discuss, through lectures and workshops, deliberate brain and skull traumas, internal and external injuries, sexual assaults and scientific research and findings with regard to child protection, among others.

She also pointed out that another training course will soon be organized for professionals dealing with abuse and neglect cases in Jeddah, as well as a workshop covering the legal procedures in child abuse cases for professionals working in the security and legal sectors.

Both have been developed in cooperation with the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences.