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Since the launching of the Primary Health Care Program in Ethiopia, 6,717 Community Health Aqents (CHAs) and 6,107 Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) have been selected by their local communities and trained by the Ministry of Health . Then they were sent back to their respective localities and expected to perform disease p evention, health promotion and rehabilitation services . In Sidamo Administrative Region, 436 CHAs and 632 TEAs have been trained. Out of these , 118 CHAs and 236 TEAs are found in Sidama Awraja (province). Thus, to find out how effectively they are being used 20 peasant associations which have both CHAs and TBAs were studied . Out of the total number of CHAs and TBAs that were trained in the region, only 117 (2 6 . 8% ) of the CHAs and 242 (38 . 3% ) of the TEAs were found working in the entire region. Similarly 34 (28.8%) of the CHAs and 117 ( 49 . 6% ) of the TEAs were found working in Sidama Awra j a . The CHAs who were working, with the exception of Wacho, were found t o have a problem with recording preventive activities performed in their localities. Over 90% of the TEAs ~}ere not able to identify the most common signs of ous signs of pregnancy. pregnancy and the danger in addition, only two of the TEAs mentioned that they washed their hands before touching the woman during labor. Only one TEA mentioned the importance of sunshine . One stated how she managed a retained placenta and none of them mentioned anything about child spacing . It is therefore, suggested that a strong national policy for training and support for the use of CHAs and TEAs be formulated. |
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