Effectiveness of seminars in training rural health workers.

Abstract

In Tanzania, rural medical aides (RMA), mother and child health aides (MCHA) and health auxiliaries (HA) care for mothers of childbearing age and children under age 5. This paper presents data obtained at 2 district seminars on mother and child health held in June 1981 and June 1983 at which knowledge and skills of MCH staff could be assessed. The main topics of the seminars were administration of MCH services, programs of immunization, primary health care, prevention and management of malnutrition, treatment of measles, oral rehydration therapy, antenatal care, family planning, tuberculosis and leprosy management. Seminars were evaluated by pre- and post-testing, with all health workers showing considerable improvement at the post-test. Problems detected during pre-testing included insufficient knowledge about contraindications to immunization, and selection of antenatal at-risk cases. Pre-test performance was, in general, poor, but marked improvement occurred after the 3-day seminars suggesting that lack of supervision was a factor. A solution may be to hold more frequent refresher courses if funding could be obtained.