Ministry of Health Launches New Training Tools for Community Health Workers

The Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) is supporting the work of community health workers across the country by launching a new training manual and job aid tool. The Ministry officially launched these new documents today at the Old Belize Pavilion, where many of the country’s 300 community health workers were in attendance. The Ministry says that community health workers play a pivotal role in delivering primary care services and health education to residents in remote villages. As such, the documents were necessary to ensure that they deliver the best possible care and have access to other essential resources. Kathleen Azueta Cho, technical advisor with the MOHW, explained that the new manual is a revised version of the 2013 manual, prepared in collaboration with the Ministry’s strategic partners and the community health workers themselves. Azueta Cho noted that these documents add to other forms of support provided by the Ministry, which also includes raising their monthly stipends from one hundred to five hundred dollars.

Kathleen Azueta Cho, Technical Advisor, Ministry of Health and Wellness: “It really is a document that was developed with the feedback from the different partners and the community health workers themselves. Initially we started with a review and a desk analysis of what is existing and what is deficient and so with those results we were able to put together a draft document which of course we reviewed, we edited, and it encompassed the feedback from all our technical advisors who also work very closely with the community health worker program. We have in addition to the manual trainings that are ongoing and it’s really to build the capacity of the community health workers. Accompanying the manual is a job aid tool which is a document or like a flip chart that they can carry when they’re out in the field doing their health education, they’re doing sensitization and other outreach activities. They are able to look at that reference tool for key messages for more information if they want to go back and check something that they’re unsure of they can make reference to this document. So it’s really something that will better equip them and empower them and give them that confidence when they’re out in the field doing their education. Because ideally what we want is for these community health workers to be independent, to be confident and fully equipped out in the field.”

UNICEF Belize provided both funding and technical assistance for the development of the training manual. Olusola Oladeji, Health and Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF, said that the manual presented to the community health workers today meets global standards.

The Ministry says that it selects community health workers through a recruitment process with input from the leaders of the communities where they will serve. The Ministry also has district coordinators who offer supervision and support to the community health workers./