Over fifty traditional communicators drawn from eight villages in the Central River Region north, over the weekend concluded a three-day training on malaria prevention, control, signs & symptoms and treatment at Banni Village, in Sami District, CRR north.

The training was organised by the regional health team and funded by the Global Fund. Speaking at the ceremony, the regional public health officer, Amadou Kanteh, said the objective of the training was to equip the participants with the relevant information on malaria prevention and control, signs and symptoms, use of treated nets and early treatment in order for them to disseminate the messages to the general public to address the high occurrence of malaria morbidity and mortality. He seized the opportunity to commend the Global Fund for complementing government’s efforts in malaria reduction.

Aja Kandeh-Jawo spoke at length on the important role the traditional communicators play in information dissemination at the grass root level. She emphasised the need for pregnant mothers and children to sleep under treated nets in order to avoid getting malaria. She pointed out that in 2008 a similar training was conducted for the traditional communicators to enable them sensitise the general public and that it has a positive impact,  thus resulting to their repeating the training.

The community health nurse in the area, Momodou Jagne, called on pregnant mothers to report to the health centre for early anti-natal services in order to have the complete doses of Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT). He said as soon as they begin to see the signs and symptoms of the disease, they should report to the nearest health facility for early treatment. At the end of the programme, the traditional communicators were given a task to disseminate the message to the general public for a period of seven months.