Umunthu Plus field officer Sabina Mwenelupembe has challenged health workers at Karonga District Hospital’s one-stop centre to execute their duties professionally to ensure gender-based violence (GBV) survivors get best services.
She said this on Friday after a day-long training of 10 service providers from the centre.
Mwenelupembe said the case management training sought to bridge the knowledge gap that hampered smooth service provision at the centre.
She said: “After learning about the shortage of trained service providers at the centre, we decided to technically support the training to ease challenges survivors were facing when they could not get the much-needed assistance on time.
skills. I Jordan Simeon-Phiri
“So, after this training, we expect significant improvement on time taken to help GBV survivors and quality service delivery.”
One of the participants, Doreen Mkandawire, described the training as timely.
“The training equipped us with documentation skills and how to probe and counsel survivors politely as well as come up with medical reports, which if needed at the court, should be error-free,” she
said.
Karonga District Hospital clinician Kepson Kamanga thanked Umunthu Plus for the training.
“We had few trained service providers at the centre. To worsen the situation, some were transferred and we have new staff members. Therefore, the orientation will enhance GBV case management skills,” he said.
Kamanga said the centre on average receives between eight and 10 sexual and physical assault cases daily.
The training covered three major topics namely approach to a case of sexual and physical abuse, medical management report writing and psychological trauma.
With funding from Tilitonse Foundation in partnership with Comic Relief and UK Department for International Development, Umunthu Plus is implementing a five-year Community Action for Gender Empowerment Project in the district.
