Coronavirus: CACOVID to train primary health workers to curb community transmission

The private dector led Coalition Against Covid-19 (CACOVID) is to commence capacity development for healthcare personnel in the areas of infection prevention and control to reduce community transmission.

CACOVID said in Lagos that it would engage National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and other resource partners like CHAI, DRASA and others to define scope of work and training curriculum.

Speaking on behalf of leaders of the coalition, Ms. Zouera Youssoufou, who is the chief executive officer of Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF), disclosed that CACOVID would start implementing training for the healthcare personnel first across the four states of Kano, Rivers, Enugu, and Borno, and then extend to other states of the federation.

She stated that the coalition would tap into the expertise of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to organise a systematic training programme for all primary health workers to help reduce the rate of community transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

Youssoufou explained that the private sector group, is to handover some isolation centers it had built to the state governments and commence distribution of foodstuffs to the vulnerable during the period of the lockdown.

According to her, in order to curb community transmission and educate the medical personnel on proper handling of COVID-19 cases, CACOVID would partner relevant agencies for capacity building as the primary healthcare sector remains one of the top priorities of the coalition.

She said:“ Training of health workers is one of the most important things we need to do to help curb the spread of the virus within the community health care system.

“Giving them the tools, knowledge and understanding is critical to the fight against this pandemic.

“The training became necessary because the health workers need to know what to do when they encounter anyone with coronavirus.

“Right now, we are working with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to organise a systematic health care training programme for all primary health workers, such as nurses and doctors to properly train them on how to handle COVID-19 cases.”

She disclosed that CACOVID was also involved in the provision of personal protective equipment to help the federal government’s effort in curbing the spread of the scourge.

“Right now, our priority is to be as effective as we can in helping to curtail this COVID-19 threat. We are working on more comprehensive health intervention, which is around improving the quality of our primary health care system in Nigeria.

“We have had a very big conversation with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and we want them to do as much as they can to make sure the heath care sector is able to attend to people’s needs,” she added.

According to her, CACOVID has also been in the forefront of galvanizing individual entrepreneurs and corporate bodies to contribute to the coalition.

Ms. Youssoufou reiterated that plans have been concluded to provide food relief packages to all the states in the federation, covering five per cent of the population or 1.7 million households in Nigeria.

She described this gesture as a palliative by the private sector operators to cushion the effects COVID-19 on the vulnerable during the nationwide lockdown.

The agreed food package by CACOVID contains 10kg rice, 5kg garri, 1 carton of pasta (20 packs), 1 carton noodles (40 packs), 5kg sugar and 1 kg of salt.

She added that the isolation centers, which are being set up by CACOVID, would be well equipped with beddings, medical equipment, personal protective equipment and other necessary tools needed for the treatment of coronavirus.

The first CACOVID isolation centers in phase 1 are expected to be in Lagos, Kano, Rivers, Enugu, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Borno states, while phase 2 covers 20 states in the six geo-political zones.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Countries have different approaches to testing, says NCDC

The second phase will see CACOVID-19 building isolation centres in Katsina, Ogun, Bayelsa, Anambra, Bauchi and Plateau states respectively.

Other donors to the CACOVID- 19 account are BUA Group, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Unity Bank, Sun-Trust Bank, Union Bank, UBA, FCMB and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, among others.

As part of CACOVID activities, media campaigns and outdoors advertisements are being launched across the states in the country.