Health workers get skills upgraded

NINE community health workers (CHW) representing the eight districts of the Eastern Highlands will have the opportunity to extend their skills in what they do best at their respective health facilities after going through upskilling for six months.
The CHW training in Goroka was based on a pilot curriculum developed by the Health Department and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the School of Medicine and Health Science of the University of PNG.
The programme was introduced to Mt Hagen in Western Highlands, West New Britain and the Eastern Highlands.
It aimed to train the CHW who were always on hand at the health facilities to gain skills and experience to attend to and assist women in child and maternal health services.
The Eastern Highlands health authority (EHPHA) public health services director Dr Max Manape, said the shortage of manpower in the facilities in the districts of the province, the CHW who had undergone training, and with the knowledge gained, will step in and provide midwifery services to save mothers and children and improve on the maternal and child healthcare services.
“We are grateful to our partners, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the EHPHA for the support in making this upskills training a success,” Manape said.