This post, authored by Elisabeth Wilhelm, was originally published on MACEPA's Making Malaria History blog.
Mongu, the provincial capital of Zambia’s Western Province, is famed in the region for its fragrant rice, sand, and colorful annual procession of the Barotse Royal Establishment, the Kuomboka. It was also the setting for the province’s first-ever community malaria surveillance training, led by the Zambia Ministry of Health, National Malaria Control Centre, and MACEPA trainers.
Community surveillance—active investigation of confirmed malaria cases led by community health workers (CHWs)—began in Southern Province in 2013 as a way to further bring down malaria cases in the region, and the experience there informed the training of 178 CHWs and 40 Ministry of Health staff in Western Province in March, April, and June. Among the lessons learned in Southern that helped shape the training curriculum in Western was the importance of teaching IT trouble-shooting skills to district staff. Such skills reduce the need for people to travel from Lusaka to remote locations to fix malfunctioning reporting phones, without which, data on community cases goes unlogged.
Read the full post here.