In a bid to reduce the high rate of maternal mortality in Liberia, over 20 health supervisors from the Family Health Division of the Ministry of Health are attending two-day training in Monrovia on Family Planning and use of contraception with emphasis on post-abortion emergency.
The training is being conducted in partnership with DKT (Drakumah Kamah Tyia) International and the Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia.
Senior Medical Detailer for DKT International Gayflor M. Barnar said Monday, 23 September the focus is to promote effective family Planning education and promotion among adolescents and pregnant women.He said this is a training of trainers exercise to prepare supervisors that would return to educate staff under their watch.
“After the training, our major trainers will roll double the knowledge acquired to have maximum impact”, he added.The training exercise, which is being facilitated by a South African, Vezi Makalima, Regional Sales Consultant for Southern Africa, kicked off here at the time health workers across the country are boycotting work in demand of salary and improved working condition.
In and Out-Patients, including pregnant women in public health facilities were abandoned Monday, 23 September, as nurses and doctors laid down tools to draw government’s attention to their plight. An abrupt salary harmonization exercise by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning has left many government employees, including health workers and teachers affected by cuts in their monthly pay in a badly performing economy.
The Director of the Family Health Division at the Ministry of Health Bentoe Z. Tehoungue reminds that Pillar One of the government’s Pro-Poor Agenda for Development and Prosperity or PAPD is Health Investment, stressing the need to prioritize the sector.She notes that when a teacher goes on strike, students have an opportunity for make-up, but patients don’t have such leverage, if health workers abandoned work.
Madam Tehoungue notes that though health workers took oath to save lives, but when they face challenges in the work place, they should be addressed.She confirms that protesters erected roadblocks in Du-Port Road, Paynesville while situations at Benson Hospital also in Paynesville were tense, especially for pregnant women and emergency cases.
I am talking to our people to go in and save lives; you can wear your color clothes and when you get into the facility, you can change and dress in white”, she pleads.She said the strike was simultaneously ongoing in the counties, including Bong, Margibi and Montserrado, respectively. Story by Jonathan Browne
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