A sigh of relief for the Community Health Workers
With funding of GAVI, the vaccine alliance, 646 kits, were delivered to Community Health Workers (CHW) during a ceremony organized by the Ministry of Public Health and the fight against AIDS in partnership with UNICEF.
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With funding of GAVI, the vaccine alliance, on Tuesday 24th Jan 2023, 646 kits, were delivered to Community Health Workers (CHW) during a ceremony organized by the Ministry of Public Health and the fight against AIDS in partnership with UNICEF.
Among the 646 kits, 171 were given to CHWs of Matana, Bururi province, in the presence of the Minister of Public Health and the fight against AIDS, Dr Sylvie Nzeyimana.
Alongside of the Minister, were Leonidas Bandenzamaso, Governor of Bururi province, various heads of districts of Bururi province, Dr Hamady Ba, the head of Health and Nutrition section within UNICEF as well as the population of the region.
Bicycles, mobile phones, raincoat, backpack, megaphones..., are some of the items composing the kits. The head of Matana health district, Dr Jeremy Ndayizeye, at the start of the ceremony, mentioned the crucial role of each kit in the daily activities of the CHWs. The transportation is among the difficulties they often encounter. “We dearly thank the Minister of Public health for coming to deliver these kits to the community health workers of Matana district” said the head of health district of Matana along with population applause strongly represented.
Dr Sylvie Nzeyimana, the Minister of Public Health, then proceeded to the distribution of the kits to each Community Health Agent Group starting with Kibezi. In her words, she will revert on the fact that this handover is a fulfillment of the promise made to CHWs. She will insist that these kits that will contribute to facilitate their work, be used wisely for the well-being of the population.
Dr Hamady Ba, Representing UNICEF, will mention that these kits that the Ministry of Public Health and the fight against AIDS keeps on delivering with the financial support of UNICEF and GAVI contribute to the reinforcement of the operational capacity of the CHWs “The community health workers play a big role at the primary health care level, cornerstone to health development. They provide sanitary education, reference, prevention and cases management, follow-up as well as home visits in selected communities”, said the head of Health and Nutrition at UNICEF.
A beneficiary from the Matana health district expressed her joy of having these materials and state that from now on, she will no longer have issues of moving around or communicating. She will insist on the fact that she was having many difficulties of transport or to call a doctor in case of a patient to be referred or even to call her colleagues. She warmly thanks the Minister and UNICEF for those kits.
With 129 kits already delivered to kinyinya district, 215 kits to Gisuru district, 131 kits to Rutovu district, to name a few, 6506 kits have already been handed over by UNICEF to the Ministry of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS for Community Health Workers, i.e., half of the CHWs of Burundi for an amount of $1 439 759 USD since 2018.
