Training aimed to up-skill health workers

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By HELEN TARAWA
BEING skilled and knowledgeable about feeding practices of infants and young children will go a long way in contributing to a healthy population, a child health officer says.
Popondetta General Hospital health extension officer Leo Pantu told The National that this was the key message for the 28 clinicians and public health professionals from the Southern region who gathered in Popondetta last week.
The five-day training of trainers programme was coordinated by Popondetta General Hospital with support from the Department of Health and Unicef.
It is a global strategy on infant and young child feeding practices which the department had initiated in 2012 and rolled out in 2014.
Pantu said it was an important programme which made the participants, mainly health extension officers, nurses and midwives, realize its significance.
“Most of them took the skill of infant and young child feeding practices for granted focusing on their work alone. In their day to day duties, the health professionals paid less attention to infant and young child feeding practices not knowing the importance it had on the health of the population.
“Now they are enriched to better understand and appreciate their work and they were prepared to share their experiences with colleagues and the communities,” Pantu said.