At least 20 participants drawn from 10 different communities within the Upper River Region (URR) are currently undergoing a five-day training on basic health care at the Basse Red Cross Branch’s hall in Basse, URR.

The training is part of a 1.5M euros project for a four-year funded project by the Spanish government dubbed “General Convention for The Gambia”. The project was launched last year in Basse.

The project, which is an initiative of The Gambia Red Cross and Spanish Red Cross is targeting 10 communities within URR and was identified in 2009. It will focus on water and sanitation, health and hygiene promotion, food security and income generating activities. It is also expected that by the end of the project, there would be big changes in the lives of the beneficiary communities.

Speaking to the Daily Observer, Dawda Sankareh, Basse Red Cross Branch officer said the training is part of the Spanish project, which was launched in April last year , adding that it has four components and they are; food security, health, water, and sanitation. He recalled that last year, they trained members of other sub-committees in the other components who were drawn from 10 benefiting communities in URR.

Sankareh disclosed that the project will fund the construction of health posts in all the 10 communities in the region and also provide clean drinking water for the locals, among other things. Sankareh disclosed that the participants are the members of the health sub-committees in the different villages and they will be trained on basic health care. “The aim is to build the capacity of the local community members of the 10 communities on basic health care,” he added.

According to him, at the end of the training, the participants will spearhead the implementation of the health component in their different communities. “We expect the participants to develop their health action plan and activities in their communities. You should also be able to know the resources needed for the implementation of that Action Plan,” he further stated.

For his part, Alhagie Bah, the vice chairman of Basse Red Cross branch called on the participants to take the training seriously and apply the knowledge gained. He described the training as very timely and important, in the sense that the participants are now going to spearhead the implementation of the project in their different communities.

Yadi Nget of the Gambia Family Planning Association said that the training focuses on personal hygiene, and environmental health, sanitation, family health and nutrition, among others. He finally urged them to utilise the knowledge for the successful implementation of the project.