Training Community Health Workers
By: Renée Zandvliet, Programme Quality Manager, October 2014
In October 2014, Concern Health programme staff Mohamed Dauda and Nancy Seisay joined forces with the EU-funded Sustainable Health Actions Through People’s Empowerment (SHAPE) project in the Tonkolili District of Sierra Leone to conduct health and hygiene training.
Now, Dauda and Nancy are training 28 Community Health Workers (CHWs) on Ebola prevention and control. CHWs are community-based workers that help fellow community members access health and social services, as well as educate community members on health issues. It is their job to educate the fundamentals of good health and counseling to the caregivers of the community, so they can in turn promote and improve access to care.
The two-day training covers the EVD case definition, modes of transmissions, signs and symptoms, handling and reporting cases, relevant bylaws, community surveillance strategies and the roles and responsibilities of the CHWs. In total, Concern is training 124 CHWs (88 men and 36 women) in Tonkolili District on Ebola prevention and control.
One of the CHWs being trained today is Jariatu C. Fornah (35 years old), a teacher and mother of four (two boys and two girls) from the village of Mabang in Malal Mara chiefdom. She explains her role as a Community Health Worker: “We advise people in our communities about how to keep their environment clear, to wash their hands after going to the toilet, to cover food, to dry clothes well and to sleep under a mosquito net. We want to prevent cholera and other diseases in our community.”
Although there have not been any cases of Ebola in her community, Jariatu says she is worried. “That’s why I came to the training today. I want to know how to share information with my people and how to change their attitudes.
The knowledge of Ebola is very limited in my village.
We can only tackle this Ebola outbreak through information — people need to go down to the villages to sensitize all the people and observe their practices.”
Fellow CHW James. A. Sankoh (52 years old), a father of four who has been giving health messages in his community, Makoba Bana, for over 10 years, agrees with Jariatu. He says that in the Malal Mara chiefdom there have been two Ebola cases. They were quarantined, referred to a treatment centre but sadly both died.
James was actively involved in the three-day house to house sensitization campaign in September. “Sensitization needs to be strengthened” he says.
“It is not easy to tell people to change their cultural practices, like touching and washing a dead body. You really need to take time to talk to people and explain to them why they shouldn’t do that.”
He explains that there are many misconceptions: “People are afraid to go to the health centre because of the ‘torch light’ (infrared thermometers) . They think that even when it is just malaria they will be captured and taken to Kailahun’ (the main Ebola treatment facility in the country) . People are saying that there people will inject you with chlorine and you will die immediately. So I try to talk to them and explain for example that the ‘torch light’ is just like other thermometers.”
He says he is worried more people, particularly children, are dying as many people are afraid to seek healthcare.
“I am here today, I want to learn about Ebola prevention and control and I want to know how to report cases for referral” James says.
