Philipsburg- Two information evenings were held on Monday, June 15 and Tuesday, June 16 for health care workers at the A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall to give information about the upcoming HIV [e] education training. The information sessions were facilitated by Ms. Gonneke Hermanides, Regional Coordinator Health [e] Foundation of the Netherlands.
Attendees were given an overview of the internet/online based HIV training programme, which is designed for a wide range of interdisciplinary health care providers. Present at the information sessions were general practitioners, nurses, physicians’ assistants, social workers, psychologists, lab technicians, pharmacists and specialists here on the island.
Gonneke also made the same presentation during CCNAPC’s (Caribbean Coalition of National AIDS Programme Coordinators) new national AIDS coordinators orientation workshop on Monday morning at Holland House.
Gonneke stated that this program is set up as a means of focusing on sustainable HIV care in small settings. In addition she stated that it provides education in the field of HIV as a means to get more health care workers to provide improved quality care in the field of HIV/AIDS.
Suzette Moses-Burton, HIV/AIDS Programme manager stated, “One of our priorities for 2009 is the strengthening of the health care sector to deal with the issue of HIV/AIDS. We are looking at developing an integrated approach to treatment and care for HIV as part of a long-term strategy for treating HIV as a chronic manageable disease. The involvement of all players in developing a care and treatment plan will be critical to its success and successful implementation will be reliant on the increased knowledge and skills of health care workers.”
Training will be held for health care workers (HCW) as a means of promoting the development of improved social services programmes, care and treatment for persons living with HIV/AIDS and to develop a care and treatment plan.
The aim of HIV[e] education is to provide healthcare workers with complete and updated information on all aspects of treatment and care for patients with HIV/AIDS. These courses will be done via USB sticks and the internet, and is being done by Health[e] Foundation, a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands.
Interested persons can contact the PMT at 542-2078/5423003 or e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.