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Latest News Bringing health care to the people by the people

Bringing health care to the people by the people

2 November 2011

Community health workers have existed in rural areas of Mozambique for decades but lacked support and knowledge to make a real impact. Training, implemented by the Ministry of Health and with technical support from Malaria Consortium and other partners, is not just improving their skills but building people’s trust in community health workers.

Agita’s son Edson is suffering from a lower respiratory infection; she no longer has to make the three hour walk to reach the nearest health centre as she can take Edson to a trained health worker in her own community.

Fernando Zucule, the trained community health worker, or Agentes Polivantes Elementares (APE), is visiting baby Edson to see how he is responding to the treatment he has been prescribed a few days earlier. Fernando talks about some of the difficulties associated with his voluntary role and explains how he happy he is with his new position.

When Agita is asked what she thinks of Fernando , she is quick to reply “He is everything that is good.”

Integrated community case management (ICCM) provides community based-care for diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria through training and equipping community based health agents to diagnose and treat these three killers of young children.

ICCM focuses on the widespread use of diagnostics for pneumonia and malaria, appropriate treatment and community health education. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is funding Malaria Consortium’s ICCM activities in Mozambique. The Planet Wheeler Foundation is also supporting our training of community based health agents such as Miguel together with the Mozambique Ministry of Health.

To read the full case study, click here.

For more information, contact [email protected]

 

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