The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for Central River Region recently ended a one-day sensitization training on the new pneumonia and meningitis surveillance programme targeting Upper and Lower Fulladu West districts in Central River Region south.
The programme, held at the regional Governor’s bantaba in Janjanbureh town CRR south, was meant to equip participants on the latest information about the subject matter.
Speaking at the forum, Dr Grant Makenzie, a clinical epidemiologist at MRC Basse, said: “This particular programme has a lifespan of two and half years and targets Bansang Hospital, Fullabantang and Jahally Health Centres.”
The project would cover mainly children admitted in the health facilities mentioned above and would provide the targeted health facilities with the required equipment, trained nurses as well as capacity building programmes for nurses in charge of the health facilities.
“The purpose of the forum was to share information with the TAC to be disseminated to the grassroots level, among whom the MRC has been working for the past years,” he said. “This project works with government on PVT 7, which was introduced in 2009 now entering another phase.”
He also dilated on the importance of the vaccine, which would assist in minimizing the death rate among children.
This new PVT phase has taken the bold decision of introducing the vaccine in partnership and collaboration with government, he says.
For his part, Pa Cheboh Saine, Research Project Manager at MRC, underscored the significance of the project, saying it seeks to address some of the challenges causing high child death rate.
He urged the district chiefs and other TAC members to engage in information sharing for the benefit of those who could not attend the trainings.
