HEALTH WORKERS UNDERGO INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF NEONATAL AND CHILDHOOD ILLNESS (IMNCI) TRAINING IN KAPSABET
Front line healthcare workers comprising of Clinical Officers, Nurses and Nutritionists at level 2-5 of health service delivery in Nandi are undergoing a five days World Bank supported Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood illness (IMNCI) training, a strategy developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to improve child survival. IMNCI seeks to improve case management skills of first level health workers, strengthen the health system for effective management of sick children, and promote good family and community child care practices.
The IMNCI strategy forms a critical component of the Kenya Essential Package of Health (KEPH).
The 5 days of training combines classroom work with hands-on clinical practise, and participants achieve competency by repetition, combined with individual feedback from facilitators.
Rather than make a diagnosis, IMNCI trained practitioners will be able to classify the child’s illness according to severity using a series of algorithms, from which specific treatments are identified with emphasis on nutrition, health promotion and counselling. The child is treated holistically with evidence-based interventions that are feasible to implement.
The training will enable the health practitioners reduce the infant and child mortality in Nandi County, where deaths occur annually in children under-5 years old; most deaths are from common, preventable and easily treatable childhood diseases.
HIV/AIDS is the commonest cause of death in children under-5 years, but diarrhoeal disease, pneumonia and malnutrition remain the main causes of mortality.
IMNCI if well adopted can reduce more than 50% of causes of under 5 deaths.