By Bikash Gurung | Vice President
Population health is essential to national economic growth, and individual health is a social determinant to economic improvement. Further, the health sector in Nepal is one of the few sectors that offers employment opportunities for the rural poor, through its CMA program. Nepal’s Community Medicine Assistants (CMAs) are trained to work in the rural communities to provide health promotion, education and support. The CMAs, once selected through the application process, complete 18 months training to provide basic services in nutrition, environmental practices, and maternal and child health to households located far from health posts or health centers. CMAs sensitize women and families on the importance of seeking ante-natal and pre-natal services at the closest facilities, how to best protect the their own health and that of their infants and children, and how to recognize problem signs and symptoms to seek care immediately. CMAs also receive training in midwifery care to be able to attend to births when a mother cannot reach a facility on time.
Close to the community providers, such as CMAs, have been shown to expand the reach of primary health services and improve population health.This lowest level of institutionalized provider, employed by the Nepali national government not only provides a public good to the community but provides an employment opportunity for the rural poor. Moreover, it provides an opportunity for young women. Focusing on the villages in the Gorkha district, location of the epicenter of Nepal’s 2015 earthquake, the Journey Home Foundation will expand its training programs to train 6 young women, who qualify for the course, to receive their CMA certification.
The CMA training was only authorized through Nepal’s Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT). Due to the consistent quality training provided by JHF, and the success of JHF’s approach, Now JHF has added the CMA training to its training offerings for women and girls. With the help of the village communities, six students have fit the criteria and their applications have been accepted for the JHF first CMA training.
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