The Life Abundant Primary Health Care Program (LAP) has strengthened the capacities of its staff to offer inclusive health in the communities.
By definition, “inclusive health is a service, research, and policy agenda that aims to prevent and redress health and social inequities among the most vulnerable and excluded populations.
Given that the LAP work in remote and sometimes hard-to-reach communities where there are gross inequalities as regards access to healthcare, it was necessary to enhance the capacities of staff to match the gaps by offering comprehensive and holistic care.
Kakute Peter, LAP Administrator says lack of access to care by persons with disabilities (PWDs), gender-based violence, and child abuse are topical issues that affect the health of community members. “That’s why during this training we dwelled on these topics elaborately,” he stressed.
The capacity-building training was unfolding at a time many Primary Health Centres of LAP are operating crisis-plagued zones, further compounded by the COVID-19 crisis. Given that emergencies arise in such situations needing timely interventions, the staff was drilled on providing psychosocial first aid (PFA).
Quizzed on the take-home from the capacity building training, George Njini, Education Advisor says “I have been equipped with tools to assess people with impairments and disability in our communities, in a bid to meet their health needs.” Going back to my community now, I am confident that I can identify impairments and provide the needed care, and if they need to be referred or linked to other specialized services, I will do, he assured.
Tamanjong Abel, a Nurse at Mbamti Katarko-Tibati Primary Health Centre says “at first I could not identify someone who has been abused. But after this training, I will be able to identify children who have been abused and those who have gone through gender-based violence,”
The capacity building training which spanned from April 26-28, 2021 held at the Baptist Centre Nkwen-Bamenda.
