Peace Corps Community Health Agents

My favorite parts of training so far are the technical sessions on health and the health system in Niger. Souleyman, the Community Health Associate Peace Corps Director (APCD) and my boss, leads most of the sessions where I get to learn about prenatal consultations in rural villages, the educational background (or in most cases, lack) of health workers, and what types of projects volunteers work on.

Currently, I think there are around 50 Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Niger. When my stage is sworn in we’ll be almost 100. Volunteers serve in 4 sectors: Community and Youth Education (CYE); Municipal and Community Development (MCD); Forestry, Agriculture and Resource Management (FARM); and Community Health (CHA). There are currently only 2 CHA Volunteers in country—both of which have extended for a third year, so the work is certainly cut out for me!

CHA Volunteers work on a wide variety of issues within their communities although the priorities lie mostly in infant and maternal health. My role will be one of health education and advocacy. CHA volunteers encourage their communities to practice good health through vaccination campaigns, the use of mosquito nets, good hygiene, safe sex, etc. 

 

CSI in the village where I am training.

During one of our technical sessions, I had the opportunity to visit a Centre de Santé Integre (CSI). CSI’s are government supported health facilities where Nigeriens can receive medical attention. Hospitals in Niger are few and far betweenOutside the major cities, if a person wants western medical attention, and they can afford it, the CSI is where they go even though there are generally no doctors at a CSI (the highest position is the majeur, or the equivalent of a nurse in the U.S.).

I was particularly impressed with the record keeping at the CSI I visited. Last year, while writing my thesis on women’s health in sub-Saharan Africa I categorized African countries in my head based on data availability. Niger was on my least favorite list.

In the small consultation room at the CSI stood a large cabinet full of notebooks, which the stage femme (trained mid-wife) informed me contained records for every patient visit since 2004. In theory, every CSI in the country reports back to the Ministry of Health and the National Hospital in Niamey with annual reports and statistics, which can be studied to implement new and/or improved public health strategies by the government, the UN, and other non-profits. Unfortunately, my research experience has taught me that this is far from reality.

I know it will be quite some time before I have the language and cultural skills to start mobilizing people and working on projects here, but seeing the possibilities that exists is really encouraging and exciting!