JHPIEGO TrainerNews™ |
TRH Conference Disseminates Best
Practices in Training and Service Delivery in Africa
(September 2003)
Two-hundred fifty participants from 24 countries convened in Lusaka, Zambia, from 18-20 August 2003 for the TRH-organized conference: Training in Africa: Best Practices, Lessons Learned and Future Directions. The conference focused on family planning and reproductive health training in Africa, as well as training practices that have been employed successfully in non-healthcare sectors that are applicable to reproductive health programs. JHPIEGO's TRH (Training in Reproductive Health) Project, in collaboration with the USAID Office of Population and Reproductive Health and a number of USAID cooperating agencies, organized the conference.
Dr. Harshad Sanghvi, Medical Director of JHPIEGO's Maternal and Neonatal Health Program, opened the conference and provided the keynote address, entitled "Changing Needs in Education and Training: Evidence-Based Medicine." Dr. Sanghvi emphasized that research must be put into practice in training programs, citing the example of reintroducing the IUD in Kenya, where IUD use is declining due to misconceptions about IUDs among healthcare providers and clients.
The conference, hosted by the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Republic of Zambia, was designed for individuals with responsibility for the programming, design, delivery, and evaluation of training interventions to improve worker performance. The Zambia Minister of Health, Brian Chituwo, in addressing the conference, said that training is usually in response to emergencies-natural disasters and health crises. "These challenge us to ensure skilled health workers are able to deliver an affordable basic healthcare package as close to the community as possible, as well as manage epidemics and emergencies," Chituwo said.
The first day of the conference featured "hands-on" sessions, allowing participants to explore training approaches from a wide range of organizations. Other sessions focused on non-traditional training approaches-such as e-learning-or how to use the latest technology to strengthen service delivery. Presentations addressed a variety of training issues, including:
- Training to Create Adolescent-Friendly Reproductive Health Services in Uganda
- Evaluation of Impact of Cascade Training Approach on Family Planning Services and Infection Prevention Practices
- Trainer Development for Decentralization of Postabortion Care Services: The Guinean Experience
- Training to Build Capacity for Long-Term and Permanent Methods of Family Planning
- Strengthening Preservice Education: A Systematic Approach and Lessons Learned
- Disseminating Information for Scaling-Up Implementation of Guidelines and Better Practices
"Skills acquired from training are sustainable and will affect our communities and countries differently and yet in a positive way," said conference attendee Weddy Silomba, from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. "I pray that many policymakers and donors will heavily invest in training and support human capacity development as a key response to HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and other ailments."
In closing the conference, JHPIEGO CEO Leslie Mancuso urged conference participants to return to their home settings and begin implementing the best practices learned in the conference to improve the health of women and their families.
To order a CD-ROM containing all of the conference presentations (available in October 2003), contact Gretchen Kunin at repro@jhpiego.net.