The Ministry of Health and Sanitation in collaboration with UNICEF has ended a two day sensitization workshop for community leaders on key household child survival practices, at the Holy Trinity Hall in Kenema.
Earlier in his opening remarks the chairman of the workshop who is also the Mayor of the Kenema City Council (KCC) Chief Brima Kargbo said the programme is very important because it deals with the lives of people in the community. He said the program was very informative to the community and school going pupils who were at risk of early pregnancy.
He appealed to the organizers to include children in future programs.
Giving an overview of the meeting the District Medical Officer (DMO) Kenema Dr. Yankuba Madina Bah said the child survival development programme is very important because many pregnant women and children die under the age of five years.
He said it is not only the responsibility of the medical officer to reduce illness in society but the community people and their elders can also collaborate to do so.
Dr. Bah pointed out that the program aims at sensitizing the community and to raise awareness on their role and to educate leaders in order to develop strategies to reduce the high rate of infant mortality in their chiefdoms.
In his statement the Paramount chief of Dama chiefdom PC Sandi Momoh Fowai thanked the Ministry of Health and Sanitation for the provision of a health centre in the district.
He appealed to the health ministry to do more to improve on the health status of children and women, confessing that most women are not willing to attend clinic and therefore ask for proper monitoring.
The UNICEF Sub office representative Salome Paul thanked participants for attending the workshop He also called on the participants to put into practice what they had learnt.
He appealed to the community leaders to make bye laws that will improve on the health status of children, women and youths in general.
ADVERTISEMENT