Malaria training for health workers

The federal government has started to train some 7,000 health workers in the country’s the southern states on ways to fight malaria, a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of Africans each year. The Guardian’ newspaper of Lagos reported on Monday that a series of workshops were being held in which efforts would be made to consolidate existing knowledge about malaria treatment and community participation in the country’s Roll Back Malaria progamme. Speaking at the weekend opening of a train-the-trainer workshop in Edo State’s capital, Benin, Doctor Stephanies Ighadosa said that in the fight against malaria efforts would be made to develop a partnership between government and communities. Between 70 percent and 80 percent of Nigeria’s malaria cases were, she said, treated at community levels. For this reason, she added, it was imperative to identify local practices and develop a model that enabled people to treat malaria successfully. Medical personnel will be trained at state, council ward and village levels, the newspaper reported. Participants at the workshop came from Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ido and Rivers states.