Liberian primary health care project

A total of 250 village development councils (VDC"s) will be formed in the two counties to determine priorities, mobilize local support, and manage village-level implementation. Also, 250 village health workers (VHW"s) and 640 traditional birth attendants (TBA"s) will be trained to deliver a wide variety of PHC services; TBA training will stress hygienic delivery, which is virtually unknown in the area. Also, 250 village revolving drug funds will be established. At the county level, 47 MH&SW health posts will be built and staffed with physician assistants (PA"s) and certified midwives (CM"s) to serve as referral points offering improved services to the project counties, and 3 PA"s and 3 CM"s will be trained to train VDC"s, VHW"s, and TBA"s. Also to be built and staffed with PA"s and CM"s are 8 MH&SW health centers (the next level of referral) and 1 maternal child health (MCH) center. Guidelines for county-level operations will be developed; 2 county health department headquarters built, equipped, and given trained supervisory staff; and county revolving drug funds and a motorcycle purchasing scheme established. A major training program in PHC concepts and management will be conducted for county health workers at all levels and the Liberia Rural Communications Network will support the project via radio programs. Overall, 67 PA"s, 61 CM"s, and 32 health inspectors (HI"s) will be trained. At the central level, the MH&SW will develop curricula for village- and county-level health workers; key MH&SW managers and technicians will be trained in MCH, nutrition, and health and inservice education; central planning and administrative systems will be coordinated with those at the county level; a central warehouse will be built, improved logistics systems developed, and two senior logistical personnel trained; a study of potential private sector involvement in the Liberian health care system will be conducted; and training materials will be developed and key faculty trained (their places taken by PCV"s) for the Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts, Zorzor"s Curran Hospital, the Rural Health Training Center, and the Zwedru Midwifery School. Besides in-county training, the project will provide 44 person-years of long-term and 79 person-years of short-term participant training at the county and central levels.