The Youth Action Movement (YAM) in collaboration with the Nova Scotia Gambia Association, NSGA, on 8th September 2011 organised a training session on malaria information education and behavioral change communication for youths.
According to Momodou M. Sarr, a trainer and media assistant with NSGA, the training course was for the young people, so that they can effectively participate in the control and prevention of malaria.
He went on to say that the main target are the youths, because they are the future leaders, and if they are well fed with information they could make changes in their families and communities at large.
Mr. Sarr urged the participants to make sure that their children sleep under insecticide-treated mosquito bed-nets, and thereby reduce malaria prevalence.
The participants are expected to disseminate the information to their peers, who are not fortunate to attend the programme. He also urged YAM members to make reports, and also keep statistics.
Siaka K. Dibba, the national chairperson and youth representative of YAM, said the program is important because, at YAM level, they feel that there is a need for capacity enhancement to better address the issues they are advocating, including malaria.
He went on to say that was why when NSGA approached them to trained their members, they never hesitated because they know the significance of such training to young people.
He commended NSGA for selecting YAM to train them on Malaria issues and presentation skills. Dibba added that he expected the participants would involve other young people in changing their attitudes and behavior towards malaria prevention and control.
“For the lives lost as a result of malaria could be an engine of meaningful development,” he pointed out.
According to Babucarr Penn, a YAM member, it is important to be part of such a training programme, recalling that in 2005 he attended a similar programme which has greatly helped him.
The programme held at the
