Health workers to become accredited in Communicable disease
Aug 8, 2008, 14:13

In a first of its kind, local health and medical professionals and field officers from across Fiji can now study and get accredited in the field of Epidemiology in Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Capacity .

This follows a training conducted this morning by Dr Narend Singh of South Pacific Commission which was held at the National Centre for Health Promotion in Tamavua and participants will be assessed and credited with the Fiji School of Medicine (FSM).

The programme is being undertaken in partnership with the South Pacific Commission, Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network. and the Ministry of Health.

“Participants should be able to have ‘the art of surveillance’, recognise and be able to respond practically in their capacity as professionals in this field,” Dr Singh said

“ One of the aims of this programme is to enable health professionals to become aware of issues in relation to communicable diseases, to be able to recognise and create programs for the community they are based in.

The objective is that with the accreditation of this program health workers would be retained and contribute to the human resource development of the health system and also share their knowledge in the workplace.

Some of the communicable diseases that have been studied and which apply to Fiji’s situation and need for more awareness programs are leptospirosis, measles, influenza, cholera, typhoid (caused by bacteria) and dengue fever( caused by virus).

One of the participants, Ilisapeci Marama of the Nursing Section of the Nuffield Health Centre says that this programme would enable her to become more aware of diseases, collect data, analyse it and make programs for the appropriate for the community.

The programme will be offered from the Certificate to the Masters Level.



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(No.1321)