Activity 10: Training and Capacity Building

PI: Dr. Aftab Uddin

During 2005-2007, ICDDR,B has been involved in the capacity building of the government institutions by internally facilitating the relevant programmes, units and faculty and pair them with focal points of collaborating government agencies.

We train the workforce who deliver health and family planning services to the community especially the children, women, and the poor by:

• identifying the training needs
• developing training curricula
• providing hands-on training

For example, we offered a 5-day training course on Epidemiology, Clinical Management, and Prevention of Diarrhoeal Diseases, and Malnutrition for the doctors; and a 5-day long course on Laboratory Diagnosis of Common Diarrhoeal Diseases Agents for the Laboratory Technicians and Medical Technologists. As of June 2007, ICDDR,B has trained over 200 government doctors, nurses and lab technicians to deliver quality health services through diagnosing, treating and managing diarrhoeal diseases, and malnutrition cases throughout Bangladesh.

A number of training courses on clinical, diagnostic, and preventive skills for diarrhoeal diseases and malnutrition were developed for:

• Doctors working at sub-centre, Upazilla Health Complex, District Hospital, and Medical College Hospitals
• Medical Technologists (Laboratory Technicians) working at Upazilla Health Complex and District Hospital
• Health and Family Planning program managers and senior professionals working at different levels under DGHS and DGFP

With support from the Government of Bangladesh (Improved Health for the Poor) and in collaboration with the Training and Education Unit of ICDDR,B, NIPORT, and the Directorate General of Family Planning, Gov¬ernment of Bangladesh, the MHRC conducted two 5-day workshops in 2006 on reproductive health for mid- and senior-level family-planning managers, researchers, and trainers from government family-planning programmes, and other training institutions.

The next steps should focus on developing strategies and follow-up mechanism to scale up and sustain these training and capacity building activities countrywide.

Collaborating Institutions:

• Directorate of Health Services and Directorate of Family Planning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW)
• Directorate of Family Planning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW)

Results:

• Training Course on Management of Severely Malnourished Children:

Adopting a team approach, during 15-19 May 2005 and 27-31 August 2006, 29 doctors and nurses from Chittagong and Khulna Medical College were trained on a special nutrition protocol developed by ICDDR,B to combat malnutrition among severely malnourished children. After training, ICDDR,B faculty also conducted follow-up visits and helped establish Nutrition Rehabilitation Unit in the Paediatric department of both Chittagong and Khulna Medical College Hospital.

• Training Course on Research Methods:

During 4-15 September’05, 12 FCPS/ MD (Paediatrics) doctors from Dhaka Medical College were trained to develop their basic research skills to accomplish course dissertations.

• Course on Epidemiology, Clinical Management and Prevention of Diarrhoeal Diseases, and Malnutrition:

During 11-22 December’05, 12-23 March’06, and April-May 2007, 90 doctors were trained from different hospitals including Medical College hospital, District Hospital, and UHC. In addition, during 28 May-1 June’06, 16 doctors enrolled in FCPS, MD and DCH course at DMCH were trained to develop skills on Clinical Management of Diarrhoea and Malnutrition.

• Training Course on Diagnostic Laboratory Methods:

During 2-20 August 2006, 24 laboratory technicians/medical technologists mostly from District Hospitals were trained to develop laboratory diagnostic skills in relation to diarrhoeal disease agents, and thereby helped to contribute to overall management of diarrhoeal diseases during routine investigation and epidemic control measure.

• Workshop on Reproductive Health for Family Planning Managers: Sharing ICDDR,B Experiences

During 1-5 January’06 and 4-8 June’06, 31 Family Planning Managers from different levels of DGFP were oriented on the ICDDR,B experiences related to Reproductive Health.