Frontline staff drilled in Covid prevention

Malawi Health Equity Network has emphasised the need to equip frontline health workers with new skills and information about the Covid-19 pandemic.

The network’s project manager Davies Mwachumu said this on Friday in Mchinji during the opening of a two-day refresher course for the district’s health surveillance assistants (HSAs).

“As you are aware, Covid-19 is a novel disease and, as such, there is need to equip frontline health workers such as HSAs with new developments or information about the disease from time to time,” he said.

Mwachumu said the HSAs were the third group of health workers to undergo the training after  similar trainings for nurses and medical assistants in the district.

He said they have prioritised border districts of Mchinji, Ntcheu, Dedza and squatter settlements in cities.

“The network plans  to buy personal protection equipment for health workers in the targeted districts by November,” said Mwachumu.

Mchinji District Health Office assistant environmental health officer Limbani Makawa said the training came at the right time when they were also engaging health workers on Covid-19 prevention.

“The new skills will enable HSAs to fight the disease,” he said.

One of the HSAs, Dziwenji Mbosanje, said the refresher course equipped her with new information regarding Covid-19 transmission.

“For instance, that the coronavirus can be active on a surface for 72 hours and not nine hours as previously communicated,” she said.

The training was funded by Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.