SWODEN trains 250 community health volunteers in Katsina

By Abbas Bamalli – Katsina

An NGO, Society for Women Development and Empowerment of Nigeria (SWODEN) has trained about 250 Community Health Volunteers and Health Service Providers (CHV/HSP) in Katsina State.

SWODEN also organised a 2-day training for 110 Male Motivators as part of the implementation of Gender/Behavior Change Intervention (BCI) project.

The SWODEN programme Officer in the state, Tajuddeen Ma’aruf, disclosed this during a training for the CHV/HSP in Katsina.

According to him, the two capacity building trainings were supported by the Nutrition International (NI), in collaboration with the Katsina State government.

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He said that the essence of the refresher training for the CHV/HSP was to update their knowledge on male involvement in maternal health.

Ma’aruf added that the aim was to enable them to continue with the community sensitisation, outreaches, house to house visit, and also men support groups sensitisation.

“It is also for them to be able to sensitise youth groups and counseling, at both facility and community levels for women to be accessing Antenatal Care (ANC) and Iron and Folic Acid (IFAs) uptake.

“To address some gender gaps, men were also sensitised on ways to empower the women on accessing other health care services around them,” Ma’aruf said.

He further commended the commitment demonstrated by the volunteers during the training, and the success stories they shared from the field.

Similarly, Malam Sani Umar, the NI state Coordinator, appreciated the volunteers, urging them to continue with the good work.

According to Umar, a lot needs to be done to address maternal health in the state and country as a whole, hence the need for all stakeholders to join hands.

SWODEN is a civil society organisation that focuses on women, girls and young people.

It designs and provides innovative and quality health, educational, economic development and social protection services to its target groups.

(NAN)