The Health Promotion and Development Organisation (HePDO), sponsored by Global Fund through the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), has recently completed a 4-day training for 244 women on promotion of insecticide treated mosquito nets. The women were drawn from three communities; namely Abuko, Brikama and Kanpant.

Speaking at the event, Saikou Barrow, HePDO field coordinator at Bakau and Fajikunda circuit, thanked the women for their turnout. He explained that the training guide he provided is meant for the trainers to use for the Positive Deviant household volunteers to conduct behavioral change activities at community level. He went on to describe the step taken by the Positive Deviants Hearth Model among other things is to promote regular use of insecticide treated nets among non-insecticide treated net users.

Barrow added that the Positive Deviant Hearth Model is a community-based approach designed to reduce the incidences of malnutrition in children. He said that the model was used in nutrition to describe young children who grow and develop adequately in poor families and communities, where high number of children are malnourished and frequently ill.

For her part, Fatou Gaye on behalf of the participants, expressed delight and thanked the women for their turnout, and commended HePDO for conceiving the idea and involving the women in the training. She said the training was organised at the right time -in the rainy season.