By Jonathan Hindolo Kurabu
BRAC Sierra Leone has ended a two day intensive training on Community Health Reach on Covid 19 under Health programme at the District Health Management Team conference hall in Pujehun.
The training targeted over 50 community health promoters drawn from five (5) Chiefdoms in the Pujehun District namely Sowa, Kpanga, Kpaka , Galliness and Makpele chiefdoms respectively.
Addressing participants at the DHMT conference hall, the Pujehun District Health Coordinator BRAC Sierra Leone, Mariama Joe Adu said they partnered with the District Health Management Team in Pujehun to explore ways in order to engage women as participants in prone areas of COVID 19 in their respective chiefdoms, and to see how they can enable them to embark on massive COVID 19 sensitization by constantly educating the public about regular hand washing, use of face masks, Social distance measures, and promotion of hygiene in their communities.
One of the participants, Umu Sowa, from Zimmi Makpele chiefdom averred that since the inception of the corona virus disease in the country she was among others who held the view and even shared it with people that the diseases is not true, but that with the number of infected cases in Pujehun and the country as a whole, she now has the conviction that the Corona virus is real, and however promised to be an agent of change preaching all COVID 19 safety measures to her people.
Ben Kamara, one of the facilitators from the District Health Management Team in Pujehun thanked BRAC for partnering with DHMT for the training. COVID 19 messages, he said, need to go further down to Communities that do not believe that indeed the disease is real.
He underscored the timeliness of the training and urged the BRAC Staff present to embark on massive awareness raising in communities where denial rate is still very high.
Project Manager for the COVID 19 Community Health Reach, Fatmata Sannoh said the programme which is funded by Center for Development Philanthropy (CDP-USA) took place in Bo, Kenema and Pujehun at the same time.
With a project objective to support the Government of Sierra Leone in the prevention, prompt detection and effective response to the COVID 19 outbreak, she went on, they are under mandate to support community based response among BRAC beneficiaries and communities, increase awareness on hygiene practices at community level, adopt COVID 19 specific prevention and best hygiene practices amongst BRAC’s beneficiaries and communities and to ensure the reduction of COVID 19 community infections.
BRAC is a Non-Governmental Organization that was founded 49 years ago in Bangladesh and started operations in Sierra Leone in 2008. They have over the past years implemented a lot of programmes in many sectors ranging from Health, Emergency Response preparedness, youth empowerment and gender, agricultural projects and Microfinance, with them being the largest micro finance organization in Sierra Leone with over 69,000 beneficiaries.
