The Ministry of Health has called for concerted efforts to ensure that health messages reach out to many people so as to reduce the occurrence of preventable diseases.
The Ministry’s Chief Quality Management Officer for Central East Zone Ruth Mwale said health promotion is a very important aspect in the health sector since prevention of diseases is better than cure.
Speaking during a Health Promotion Technical Working Group that took place in Dowa, Mwale said there is need for partners to work together in implementing health promotion programs so that there is no duplication of efforts which will ensure efficient use of resources.
She called on participants attending the meeting to take note of the action points discussed to avoid discussing the same issues during the next meeting.
In his remarks, Dowa District Hospital’s Health Promotion Officer (DHPO) Davie Nuka said the district has embarked on a health promotion program with the objective of empowering people to achieve a certain level of knowledge in order to improve personal and community health by changing personal lifestyles and living conditions.
Nuka said the program has already trained health promotion Technical Working Groups in planning and oriented District Health Management Team (DHMT) on community mobilisation.
“So far, the program has documented a film on best practices, and given support to District Health Management Team on health promotion activities to reach out to all areas including the hard to reach ones,” he said.
However, Nuka noted that there is inadequate funds to support the program’s activities and there is lack of training for Health Surveillance Assistants (HSA) to implement the activities in the district.
During the meeting, participants noted that the lack of community radio station in Dowa district is negatively affecting the dissemination of messages to communities around the district.
The Health promotion program is being implemented in Dowa district with partners such as Story Workshop and Creative Centre for Community Mobilisation (CRECCOM).
