45 Trainers from 11 states were trained during first Cohort of TOT Program

Jaipur: IIHMR University in collaboration with NISHTHA-Jhpiegoconducteda three-day program – Training of Trainers. These Trainers will further conduct Leadership Certification Program for selected 900 Community Health Officers from 14 states.
A total of 45 participants from 11 states, including northeast were trained to further train community health officers from pan India. In the second program in the series further 55 master trainers will be created. This three-day training covered a wide range of topics from primary health care overview, Public Health Planning and Management, Management Skills, Leadership Skills, Communication Skills, Mentorship, Supply Chain Management, Financial Management, Data Management and other leadership and management lessons for community health officers to perform efficiently and effectively for strengthening primary health care.
Dr PR Sodani, President, IIHMR University said, “Training of Trainers CHO – Leadership Program had been designed to smoothen the accessibility, availability, affordability for the masses by strengthening healthcare and wellness delivery system in India. The programme is developed with an understanding about the concept of Public Health and Wellness Management. He then mentioned about Ayushman Bharat- the flagship programme of India that has proved to be a game changer in health care sector. One of the major pillars of Ayushman Bharat is Health and Wellness Centre. Ayushman Bharat to increase human resource capacity of healthcare workers and create additional infrastructure and Human resources for providing quality healthcare throughout the country. He further mentioned about the necessity to improve the state of public health services by introducing Health and Wellness centres across the country in general and in rural areas in particular so that they are able to provide good healthcare at affordable prices by reducing out of the pocket expenses in India.

“With collaboration with Jhpiego we are not only committed to improving women’s health, reducing infant mortality, and enhancing the lives of children around the world but our main motive would be to strengthen overall health system at affordable prices.”
The program’s main objective is to orient the would-be trainers about CHO Training Program, on the new modules and curriculum along with the new pedagogy of teaching. The module was thoughtfully designed by IIHMR University and NISHTHA/Jhpiego team for CHOs.
Dr. Swati Mahajan CoP NISHTHAwhile explaining the overview of NISHTHA’s leadershipProgramme for Community Health officer where they are working for strengthening the Healthcare explained how Jhpiegoprogramme, will guide wellness community engagement and accountability with effective mentoring. The main motive of this TOT session wasto provide access to health care services to everyone by strengthening already existing health care facilities in all public sector hospitals across the country including peripheral health centres, sub-centres and primary health centres.

Shri Vishal Chauhan, IAS, joint Secretary (P), MoHFW said, “Health and Wellness centre are the foundational components for this programme we were able to achieve the 77000 primary health sub centres into health and wellness centres and by March 2022 1lac 10 thousand health and wellness centres which played a very critical role even during the pandemic when health industry almost collapsed. With the implementation through Ayushman Bharat scheme that aims to enhance the healthcare level in rural areas by improving the quality of service of health care professionals of primary & secondary level facilities. Also he mentioned about the National Digital Health Mission where digital health ids are generated that will connect all health practitioners under one digital platform which can be accessed by people 24 hours a day, seven days a week via any internet enabled computer, smartphone or tablet. Its designed for different platforms to access information, products and services needed daily to stay fit and healthy. NISHTHA/Jhpiego with IIHMR will play a very crucial role in strengthening CHO leadership that will set up for positive living guided by expert advice.”

IIHMR University is committed towards contributing to strengthening the health system of the country. This program will bring reward and recognition for CHO and will keep their morale high and make them effective leader. This is a great beginning, and this program can be scalable to other states in the country.

Trainers who participated from 11states were State Program Managers, District Program Managers, Faculty ofProgram Study Centres,State Consultants, and Nursing Tutors. Participants who participated were from Jhpiego, Nursing Colleges, Health and Family Department, NHM and District Hospitals. Those who participated had work experience of upto 40 years.