Samartha tarabeti: ASHA workers' training-2nd cohort (19 February, 2025)
The 2nd cohort training was conducted at VITM, co-organized by NCBS, TIGS with BeST Cluster as outreach partner and various ground partners. through the endeavor ‘Samartha tarabeti’ under the aegis of The Rockefeller Foundation-APSI-India outreach, in collaboration with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Department of Health and Family Welfare Services - Govt. of Karnataka. This program was merged with the 5th program of the ‘Science and Community-One Health series’ for community education and dialog.
Capacity-building and refresher training for ground health workers (ASHA workers) was designed in Kannada language and English. ASHA work is crucial and plays a central role in community level public health surveillance, their contributions in disease-surveillance, data entry, vector-monitoring for diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, malaria, infectious and non-infectious diseases, fever reporting, aligning with APSI’s outreach efforts for knowledge sharing, education and awareness at grass-root levels along with training health technicians, municipal organization personnel.
Dr. Sufia Sadaf and Sai Disha K, NCBS set the context. The expert lecture was delivered by Dr. Varsha Shridhar, Director and Co-founder, MSC. She spoke about the vector-borne diseases, role of grassroot outreach and empowering the ASHAs as knowledge imparting partners and leaders, followed by Dr. Sunita Swain, TIGS, who gave a detailed account of identification of mosquitoes as disease vectors, life cycle and infectious diseases.
The participants received print materials in English and Kannada language about the vector-borne diseases, fever monitoring and measures to mitigate and hands-on training through interactive exhibits. The workshop provided training for capacity building to the ground-health workers to make them aware about disease-surveillance, including fever monitoring, vector-borne diseases, seasonal and infectious vs non-infectious diseases, types of pathogens and their role in disease, harmful impacts of unregulated usage of antibiotics and AMR, healthy community practices to mitigate/reduce AMR burden and incidences, data entry and digital data reporting.
These training modules were imparted through a combination of expert lectures, interactive and engaging group-activities, hands-on curated activities guided by volunteers and hands-on exhibits for experiential learning and long-term impact. The scientific concepts were presented through simplified contents, films, extempore and group-deliberations, employing creative theater tools and performing arts. With this training, the ASHA workers received first-hand knowledge and scientific tools. A total of 5 such training modules will be conducted between Jan to May 2025, for 2.5 hrs, for nominated ASHA workers per workshop, from across 8 zones (Bommanahalli, Dasarhalli, East, Mahadevapura, RR Nagar, South, West, Yelahanka)
Program Schedule
2nd workshop: Feb 19, 2025 at VITM, 2:30PM - 5PM
Expert talks: 2:30PM to 3:15PM (VITM, ground floor auditorium)
– Welcome remarks: Mr. Sajoo Bhaskaran, Director, VITM & Ms. Jyoti Mehra, Curator D, VITM
– Introduction to the Samartha tarabeti- capacity-building workshop: Dr. Sufia Sadaf & Sai Disha K, NCBS
– Films- Disease-spread, pathogens and prevention/containment | Ovitrap building: APSI & MSCH
– Short talks
– Pathogens, diseases and surveillance (WWS and vector): Dr. Varsha Sridhar, Director & Co-founder, MSCH
– Grass-root involvement and impactful contributions for ASHA work: ASHA mentor, BBMP
– Vector entomology: lessons from Mosquitoes: Dr. Sunita Swain, Insectary Manager, TIGS
Hands-on exhibits: 3:15 PM to 4:30 PM (3rd floor exhibit area)
– Hands-on exhibits, disease-vectors: mosquitoes, larvae, breeding sites, led by TIGS Insectary team
– Exhibits: Public health surveillance – VITM and APSI
Team activities (ground floor auditorium): 4:30 PM to 5PM
Led by Dr. Sufia Sadaf with team volunteers (Sai Disha K and VITM team)
Activity 1: Group quiz and learning games: focused on vector-borne disease surveillance, hotspot-identification, fever reporting, dengue prevention strategies.
Activity 2: Superheroes empowered! Grass-root educators for public health awareness.
Prize distribution, felicitation, certificate distribution
Written by :-
Dr. Sufia Sadaf,
Program Manager,
The Rockefeller Foundation–Alliance for Pathogen Surveillance Innovations (RF-APSI)
NCBS-TIFR
Bangalore