Susu mama training runs at Nawaeb

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The National,Monday16 January 2012

By PISAI GUMAR
NAWAEB district in Morobe will not welcome any non-governmental organisations unless it is willing to align its programmes to work with existing government and church programmes.
District health adviser Justin Roaming and provincial works chairman and Wain-Erap LLG president Charlie Foike made that known to acting provincial health advisor Micah Yawing and Susu Mama clinical manager Margaret Rombuk during a baby-friendly hospital initiative closed at Boana station last weekend. 
“NGOs do have vital programmes backed without self-sustaining mechanisms. 
“NGOs fly in anywhere they wish, ignore existing organisations, processes and procedures, set own boundaries and operate in isolation to suit their own interest.
“When NGOs depart, the programmes die out,” Roaming said.
The three-day workshop was the first of its kind the Susu Mama programme has conducted in the district.
It trained 10 health staff and 12 village birth attendant volunteers about lactation and ways to breast feed infants.
The topics learnt included breast anatomy and how it produces milk, placing babies appropriately to feed, importance of breast milk and what it does to a child and mother.
Facilitators Sr Morva Boittee and Jenny Daniels taught the participants about nutrition, basic HIV and preventing infants from being infected with HIV despite the parents being HIV positive.
“Although there are health issues in urban areas, there are severe and critical health needs in rural villages,” Yawing said.
“The delivery of health services should not be implemented in isolation without using existing delivery mechanisms in districts and LLGs.”
Yawing applauded the initiative that to help village birth attendants to promote and control maternal and infant mortality rates.
“Although we can talk and discuss policies, strategies and regulations, service delivery is crucial to ensure infectious diseases are monitored and controlled as well to minimise deaths at birth.”
“If we lose a life, it is a great loss to family, community and importantly our society.”
“Money is not everything because health is one’s everyday business; how one thinks decisively and takes care of one’s own daily lives. Money is only needed to facilitate shortfalls,” Foike said.