Malaria remains a significant issue amongst mobile and migrant populations in the border areas between Cambodia and Vietnam. To address this issue the Centre for Health Consultation and Community Development (CHD) together with the international NGO Health Poverty Action (HPA) are running a project to control malaria in this border area. The project is running from 2018 – 2020 and is supported by the Global Fund.
To help ensure that malaria is controlled it is vitally important that village health workers and other people engaged in the prevention of malaria are trained in behavior change communication (BCC) techniques. As part of this CHD conducted training courses with 36 village health workers and malaria corners. The courses were undertaken in Dak Lak and Binh Phuoc provinces with the support of the Dak Lak Provincial Center for Malariology, Parasitology and Entomology together with the Binh Phuoc Provincial Center for Disease Control (CDC). The first training course was conducted on the 27-28 September 2018 in Krong Na commune, Buon Don District, Da Lak Province, and a further training course was conducted between 1-2 October 2018 in Bu Dop District, Binh Phuoc Province for Thien Hung and Thanh Hoa communes.
These trainings enabled Village Health Workers and Malaria corners to identify and define high the high risk populations and to be able to apply BCC techniques to help people change their behaviors to prevent and control malaria. 100% of the participants increased their knowledge of BCC techniques and interpersonal communications skills.
Participants found the action card an indispensable tool for implementing BCC through inter-personal communication in the field and the provincial partners wish to extend its use within the projects. The action card will be further adapted to fit the local context and language and will be printed and distributed in November 2018.
Some photos of events: click here