First aid crucial in times of disaster

Standard Style
The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) last week scored a first when it successfully hosted a week-long Eastern and Southern Africa region Community Based Health and First Aid (CBHFA) workshop in Harare.

The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society (ZRCS) last week scored a first when it successfully hosted a week-long Eastern and Southern Africa region Community Based Health and First Aid (CBHFA) workshop in Harare.

By Staff Reporter

CBHFA is one of the key programmes aimed at fostering community resilience and the organisation’s.

ZRCS secretary-general Maxwell Phiri said he was happy to be hosting a workshop to enhance an integral component of the Red Cross work.

“CBHFA remains a celebrated movement approach designed to empower communities and volunteers to take charge of their health and it is my sincere hope that this week-long engagement will enrich our knowledge base and share experiences on how best we can improve our ongoing programmes,” Phiri said.

The scope of the CBHFA programme is that it uses simple tools adapted to local contexts while mobilising communities to prioritise and address health needs. The CBHFA approach seeks to create healthy, resilient communities worldwide and plays a vital part in the IFRC’s Strategy 2020 and in contributing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

A total 115 national societies, including Zimbabwe, are using the approach and tools reaching over five million people through their 33 000+ local volunteers.

The well-attended workshop brought together participants from various Red Cross national societies, among them Malawi, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Finland, among others.

The workshop also sought to review CBHFA tools; while allowing selected national societies in Eastern and Southern Africa to test some of the revised material and provide the necessary feedback towards the envisioned final eCBHFA, an e-version of the CBHFA tool.

Participants also had time to visit Muzarabani district where ZRCS is implementing a number of programmes related to CBHFA. Of the mission to Muzarabani, Phiri said it was necessary that they marry the theory aspects of the workshop to the practical tenets of the programme.

“ZRCS is implementing a highly successful programme funded by the Finnish Red Cross in Muzarabani and this largely relates to CBHFA practice, hence the need for the workshop participants to visit the project areas and they were largely happy with the outcome of the visit,” he said.

The workshop ended yesterday with a graduation ceremony where participants from Africa received certificates.