Nkhoma Mission Hospital drills community volunteers in non-communicable diseases management

Nkhoma Mission Hospital has urged people in the country to desist from defaulting Non-Communicable Disease (NDC) medication when they start feeling better.

Dr. Dickson Kulisewa, Nkhoma Mission Hospital Medical Doctor made the remarks at the end of a two-day training for community volunteers in non-communicable diseases which aimed at strengthening primary health care in communities around the hospital’s catchment area.

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Kuseliwa highlighted that such educational sessions will be conducted regularly to empower individuals in taking proactive measures to prevent avoidable diseases and effectively manage their lives upon diagnosis of non-communicable diseases.

“Some people when they take hypertension drugs and their blood pressure normalizes, they think that they are fine and can stop taking medication which is not the case. As Nkhoma Mission Hospital, we felt that these volunteers will keep on tracking such patients to make sure they are not defaulting medication when they start feeling better,” said Dr. Kulisewa.

In an interview, one of the trained volunteers from Tsoyo Community Hospital, Mussa Alim highlighted that misinformation about non-communicable diseases such as epilepsy, hypertension, diabetes, and asthma has been circulating within the communities.

He however said the training will equip him with accurate knowledge, enabling him to disseminate correct information about these conditions.

“The training has been insightful since now I will be able to encourage people in my area to go for regular medical checkups even though they do not feel sick. I will also share the noted signs of different diseases with the communities,” said Alim.

Joyce Juma, a volunteer at Chiphwanya Health Centre, expressed confidence that her role would be streamlined moving forward.

She explained that she will no longer need to rely solely on patient interviews, as the training has equipped her to identify signs and symptoms to accurately determine a person’s ailment upon initial assessment.

“I will do my best to share whatever I have learnt here in different forums including Village Development Committee (VDC) meetings and churches so that people are aware of signs and symptoms of non-communicable diseases before they get sick,” said Juma.

Nkhoma Mission Hospital is conducting the trainings under the Nkhoma non-communicable diseases project implementing together with the Nkhoma Palliative Care with support from Haraldsplass hospital in Norway.

The training brought together volunteers from Nathenje, Chiphwanya, Chimbalanga and Kalulu among others with focus on non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, epilepsy and also palliative care.

NCDs stand as the foremost contributors to global mortality, predominantly encompassing cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory ailments, and diabetes.