CARE partners with ADPC for training: Community-Based Management of AHI in Asia

I had the opoprtunity this November to help facilitate the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center's pilot training workshop on community management of AHI in Bangkok. The training including staff from many NGOs and CBOs in the region and a contingent of CARE staff, including Peexiong Gniachong from Lao PDR, Robert DeGroot from CARE Indonesia, Jacquelyn Pinat from CARE Cambodia, and Mai Nguyen and Chi Nguyen from CARE Vietnam. I am certainly indebted to all of them for their help and guidance in presenting CARE's AI work in Southeast Asia.

The workshop covered methods for surveillance, biosecurity, behavior change communication, participatory action research, and emergency preparedness and response. Participants found the workshop helpful, not only from the practical tools and skills included in the materials, but also from sharing experiences and lessons learned with each other. Participants formed "energizer teams" each day and made sure things were never dull. CARE staff blew away the competition during one event - a race to get eggs and chickens at the market while demonstrating healthy behaviors.

This workshop was born out of a partnership between ADPC, CARE, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Rescue Committee, the Academy for Educational Development, and the Kyeema Foundation.

Given CARE's innovative work on community-based surveillance, CARE was asked to develop the training on surveillance methods, giving me the opportunity, along with my colleagues from each country office, to highlight the work of CARE Vietnam, CARE Cambodia, CARE Lao PDR, and CARE Indonesia in applying different surveillance models to detect and respond to AHI.

The pilot concluded at the end of November and the materials are undergoing a revision and refinement process for the first of what we hope will be many trainings in the region. The next training will be held in Bangkok in early December, with CARE's own Jacquelyn Pinat facilitating the training on surveillance methods. We wish her luck and know she will do an excellent job representing CARE.

The materials and resources from the finalized training should be available on ADPC's website following the December workshop. Please stay tuned to hear about Jacquelyn's experience at the second workshop and for updated materials from ADPC.

http://www.adpc.net/communityAHI-Asia/.