East New Britain’s health sector, through the Provincial Health Authority (PHA), is incorporating programs targeting the 300-plus wards in the province.
The programs will ride on the ENB Provincial Government’s ward focus policy.
Sinivit of Pomio District is one LLG that is doing its part to upskill the Ward Development Committees (WDC), through their respective sector sub-committees.
Under the health sector, the LLG’s Environmental Health Officer (EHO), John Piga, recently held a training on the Healthy Island Concept for 13 of the 18 wards.
This is because the other 5 wards are located along the south coast corridor and could not make it due to bad weather.
“Because we have been having strong winds and rain over the past few weeks, the health sector chairpersons in those 5 wards could not travel over as the seas were rough and rivers were flooded. So, we will travel to the south coast to run a similar training for them later,” said Piga.
The training upskills the chairpersons of the health committees under the WDCs on their roles in their sector and how to conduct their programs, such as family household inspections.
After the three days of training, the participants went out to do their practical sessions, armed with two checklists provided by the trainers to inspect individual family homes and also do a general community health inspection of the ward.
Piga said there are 16 indicators or pillars under both checklists that focus on public health matters such as water supply, waste management, food safety and general cleanliness of the environment, which include livestock farming, especially with pigs.
Households that do not comply with the checklist will be issued a ‘Notice to Carry Out Work’.