Training for Trachoma drug administrators

Around 300 people in 99 teams of three people have been undergoing training this week throughout the country in the six provinces to start administering the drug against Trachoma next week. For logistical reasons Tafea and Penama have training for more of their volunteers next week.

Lasihah Taleo from WHO in Port Vila, whose office is assisting the Ministry of Health in the work, says in Port Vila City they have 19 teams altogether with each team consisting of one nurse and two volunteers. Almost 300 people nationwide will carry out the nationwide mass drug administration campaign when it starts on Thursday next week.

Lasihah Taleo says: “Trachoma is a disease listed under NCD.

“Under the program for elimination of Trachoma, we in Vanuatu, because of the prevalence of the disease in the country is over 10% of around 12%, we are doing a one round mass drug elimination. Now in the country we are starting in the month of August 15 to September 15.”

For Port Vila and Shefa teams, they carried out training for the team members this week on each members’ role and how they performed their task to administer the pills acid thromyzin.

“After the training this week, each of the teams will go to their assigned areas of the city and Efate and offshore islands for example where they will start the community awareness on what they will be doing and the reasons. Then they will start administering the pills to the people on Thursday next week,” Mrs. Taleo says.

On Wednesday all the teams undergoing the training in Port Vila did their practical with the communities of Seaside Paama, Seaside Tongoa and Seaside Futuna. They gave out awareness messages, practiced registering/recording the treatment administered and practiced performing in a community environment as a practical for the real session starting next week.

Today the volunteers and the registered nurses in the teams are back in the training room to evaluate the training exercises of Wednesday at Seaside. After this they go out to do the community awareness and operation starting on Thursday.

Last week there was a training of trainers for teams in all the provinces from Monday through Thursday and on Friday the Minister of Health, Toara Daniel Kalo, launched the MDA campaign and with senior health ministry officials they became the first people to take the pill.

Glen Thompson, a youth with the Seventh Day Adventist Church, from Manples in Port Vila and one of the volunteers, says at the training they learned a lot of things especially about trachoma and how to treat the disease. He says for many of them the field of medicine is new but they were happy to assist in the program to eradicate trachoma from Vanuatu.

With the teams they carry sticks with measurements on them to use when they go put to administer the drug. On one side of the sticks are measurements in milliliters marked in red for how much syrup of the drug to give to babies over six months upward to children of under 5 years of age. Babies zero to six months will be administer eye ointment on their eyes.

On the other side of the sticks are measurements in centimeters with the number of tablets to give out to children from 5 years upwards to adults with marks of 1 tablet, 2 tablets and 3 tablets with 4 tablets to most adults over 155 centimeters tall.

The teams will be visiting homes to administer the drug, and in Port Vila they will be making their visits to people’s houses mostly in the afternoons after those who work are back home.