The Reproductive Maternal, Newborn Child, and Adolescent Health (RAMNCAH) unit of the Ministry of Health conducted a one week training of trainers for nurses from Vila Central Hospital and Malampa province.
MOH stated that the 7 nurses will then train the Village Health workers to upskill their knowledge on Caring for Sick Children in the Community.
The training is in line with the RAMNCAH Policy and Implementation Strategy 2017-2020 which outlines the country’s strategic approaches to improving health outcomes for children and meeting its targets of reducing the child mortality rate to less than 25 per 1000 live births per year and to also reduce stunting by 20%.
The training helped to identify early signs of stunting and serious illness in a sick child up to 5 years.
It also educates on how best to refer children with diarrhea, malaria, pneumonia, or fast breathing to the health facility for more care and allows Village health workers to conduct pre-referral to stabilize the sick child before they can be referred to a health clinic or hospital as part of the strategy called Integrated Management of Childhood Illness.
The Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) is recognized as an important strategy to improve child health in Vanuatu as documented in the Vanuatu RMNCAH Policy and Implementation Strategy.
Photo Caption: The 7 participants of IMCI training with the trainers.
