More than 60 health workers and managers from health facilities throughout the Western Highlands Province are now well prepared to prevent and contain the corona virus pandemic should there be an outbreak.
This follows their participation in a three-week Covid-19 response intervention workshop held at Hotel Kimininga in Mt Hagen recently.
The workshop was funded by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and conducted by trainers, Jolly Kulimbua, Nellie Newman and Joyce Ategla from the Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority.
Community-based organisation, Touch the Untouchables (TTU) organised its logistics as well as accommodation and meals. It was engaged by UNICEF to help prepare for the onslaught of Covid-19 in the province by informing, educating and enhancing the capacity of health workers through such training.
The workshop was divided into three different training sessions with about 20 participants attending each of the three-day sessions. The participants were selected from both Government and church-run health facilities as well as Non-Government Organisations such as Susu Mamas and Anglicare.
They said they had gained a lot of valuable knowledge from the workshop and were looking forward to implementing them in their respective health facilities.
They also added that the workshop had prepared them well on how to prevent and contain the virus and they were happy to have received such training.
Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority’s Deputy Director Nursing Services, Sr Joan Okk when closing the first three-day session thanked TTU for arranging all the logistical support as well as accommodation and meals for the participants.
She said its efforts had ensured the clinicians were well prepared to pick up valuable knowledge on how to stop and prevent the spread of the virus and how to treat a positive case.
“We do not have a positive case of Covid-19 in the province yet but it is good to be prepared for it. If we have a positive case, I believe our health workers are more knowledgeable now to tackle and contain the virus”, Sr Okk said
