UNICEF continues training community health workers of Yemen
The CHW training course covers essential information about the most severe and notorious healthcare challenges and conditions of today's Yemen
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"The things we learn in this programme may seem pretty basic for health workers, but I know that this knowledge and skills will make a huge difference for the people of my village!", says Maria Mohamed, one of the students of the Community Health Worker (CHW) training programme, organized by UNICEF in Taizz, thanks to the financial support of the European Union.
Maria is among numerous Yemeni community health workers who live and work in remote rural areas of conflict-torn Yemen. Those trainees join the programme knowing precisely the struggles and challenges their communities have to face. By joining the CHW training, they get the necessary knowledge and skills that allow them to provide qualified healthcare in their communities.
A VERY PERSONAL MOTIVATION
"I know from my own experience how beneficial this training programme is for health workers and how much it helps the people," says Dr. Abdulrahim Al Sabai, a nutrition coordinator and one of the mentors of the UNICEF CHW training program.
The CHW training course covers essential information about the most severe and notorious healthcare challenges and conditions of today's Yemen: malnutrition, and healthcare for pregnant women, young mothers, and infants.
During the training, local health workers learn to deal with acute malnutrition, detect risk factors in pregnant women and children, conduct immunization, etc. In addition, mentors of the UNICEF CHW programme teach them how to communicate with people and explain to them the importance and efficacy of vaccination and other medical procedures.
"I know that many families still think that malnutrition is a severe disease that has no treatment," says Dr. Al Sabai. "We teach health workers to talk to those people, guide them and encourage them to start visiting health centers and treating their children."
"One of the main challenges I face in my work is convincing people to trust health workers and vaccinate their children," says Buthaina Abdullah Al-Brihi, another student of the CHW training programme in Taizz. "This course helps me a lot as when people learn that I am trained by UNICEF, they trust me more and start listening to my advice."
Every student comes from a tight-knit community and has a personal story or experience that inspired them to join the CHW programme to help their neighbors, families, and friends.
"To be a health worker means so much to me," Buthaina adds, "I can help people, save their lives and their children! And this course is a great advancement as I have learned so much about taking care of pregnant women, detecting risk factors in children, and vaccination. I am a university graduate, but here I have learned a lot of things they didn't teach us in university."
"I feel that now I have the knowledge and can help my community," says one of the trainees. "Not only have I learned important information about child care, nutrition, and vaccination, but now I can also distinguish between different types of vaccines, know how to store and handle them, and much more. Transportation might be the biggest challenge for us as we all come from remote villages, but the knowledge and skills we get here are worth all the effort," she adds.
