RSG Trains Community Health Workers

In line with the Rivers State Government policy on quality healthcare for all residents of the state,  a team of Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs), have been trained to effectively deliver the Home Base Care (HBC) strategy of the state.

The state Commissiioner for Health, Tamunoiyornari Parker, who spoke through, the Director, Community Health Services, PHCMB, Isaac Opurum, launched the programme at Mirin-wayin Asa, Oyigbo Local Government Area , one  of the three pilot Local Government Areas (LGAs),  chosen for the scheme.

Dr Parker said, the programme is expected to have trained staff visiting pregnant women until delivery in their homes and follow up on post-natal visits, while also monitoring the babies through their routine immunizations to completion.

According to him, “we desire the HBC strategy to try and reach every woman and child, we have to ensure the trained staff go to the homes and interact with the people, they would monitor the pregnant women till delivery and follow up on the baby with immunization to completion”.

He explained that the HBC strategy was desired to curb maternal and in fact mortality, saying that women have for one reason or the other refused to visit the health centres scattered across the state.

On how the board plans to sustain the scheme , the commissioner said, “as long as the board is in existence the programme would be on, we’re going to be rolling it up in our annual work plan to make sure the programme is sustained and we will have desk officers in each LGA who will take charge and would be reporting to the state desk officer.

“We will also have our indicators to track what we’re doing,” he added.

Other LGAs among the three pilot LGAs chosen from the three senatorial zones of the state are, Etche and Ahoada West LGAs, he said.

He expressed the hope that the “scheme would help us meet the Millennium Development Goals, target four and five”.

Chairman of the Oyigbo LGA, Mr Felix Nweke, who received the team from the PHCMB, expressed gratitude for the choice of his LGA as one of the pilot LGAs and charged them to make judicious use of the three per cent budget allocation to the board by the LGAs.