In April 2011, Pesinet launched a training program for its teams as well as the medical teams of the partnering health centre. To organize and run these training sessions, Pesinet contracted Jigi – a local NGO with strong expertise on training in the fields of prevention and health education.

Discover the crossed feedbacks of Cheick Mohamed Pano, program supervisor, Dr Cissé, Pesinet referring doctor in the partnering health center, and Nana Camara, Pesinet health agent.

• Cheick, Dr Cissé, what was your training about?

“We took part in a “training the trainers” session, along with two other staff of the health centre – the head of the Child Prevention Unit and the head of the Child Examination Unit. Together, we learnt how to design a training scheme, how to lead training sessions for adults, how to evaluate them…

We were also trained, along with Pesinet’s agents, on CBC (Communication for Behaviour Change) – which is the key goal of the program! This module focused on Essential Family Practices on health, which we need to convey in the families.”

• Nana, can you tell us more about the training module on Essential Family Practices ?

« This session, wich was followed by all Pesinet health agents, dealt with identification of symptoms, common child diseases prevention practices, as well as advice to give to families. In order to be more efficient in our advising role towards subscribing families, we learnt communication techniques for behaviour change – i.e. how to talk and behave in front of a group of people so that your message comes across effectively. It is also part of our work! »

• After this training, what is your general feeling ?

Cissé: « This training is a big plus for me. I had some gaps in methodology: how to prepare
a workshop, how to lead a workshop, how to identify and formulate objectives. I already had
the medical knowledge. Now I also have the educational techniques that enable me to pass on
this information. »

Nana: « I learnt new things on health topics. In my past professional experiences, I never
took part in any nursing or midwife activities; therefore, I had maybe less knowledge on
breastfeeding or nutrition issues, compared to the other agents. With this training, I learnt a lot
on family planning, child nutrition and prenatal care visits – for instance.

I also liked the practical workshop we did on counseling. We formed groups within which we shared ideas and experiences – in the same manner as during educational talks. It was a good way to learn how to lead participative talks with Pesinet subscribing mothers.»

Cheick: « This training was indeed a necessary process! It was necessary for our agents, so that they can develop activities in an autonomous manner. We all needed this training! As far as I am concerned, those sessions were the opportunity to acquire additional knowledge and skills, notably in team management.»

• In your opinion, what were the strenghts and weaknesses of this training program?

Nana: « It came a bit late. It would be better to have it at the beginning, when one starts working for Pesinet. As for the strength: the behaviour change communication techniques! »

Cheick: « I can’t think of any weakness. For me, everything was very positive! A strength : the high level of competency of Jigi trainers. They made us effectively assimilate learnings. They succeeded in mobilizing the team to take active part in the sessions – for example, they got the agents to overcome their fear of speaking in public. They managed to give them self-confidence! »

• What changes will it bring in your professional life?

Cissé: « As a doctor, I am aware of Essential Family Practices. But I found it very interesting to approach them through training and education techniques! I feel better equipped, it gives me useful tools. »

Cheick: « As for me, I already knew some training and communication methods. The training gave me the opportunity to refresh them and complete them with new – sometimes more efficient – techniques. For instance, I learnt a new way to prepare and lead the weekly team meetings. It is important to renew your panel of techniques so as to avoid monotony.»

Nana: « I changed my work habits and processes. Soon after the training session, I organized a talk with my mothers. I managed to talk in front of them, be convincing, and they listened to me. We exchanged ideas and I even made appointments with some of them. The training changed my way of sensitizing them. I put into practice what we learnt during the practical exercise. I feel more at ease and confident. I think I could talk even in front of the Health Minister now!

I learnt how to bring up my discussion topic with the mothers. In general, when you arrive, it is often not a good time – there might be bickering going on. With the training, I learnt how to avert those situations and talk about my health topic, without getting involved in their personal matters. Before, I was sometimes ashamed. Now, I say what I have to say! »

• In your opinion, what will be the impacts of the training on the program ?

Cissé: « The impacts can only be positive – notably for agents, as they constitute the link between the mothers and us doctors. If they put into practice what they have learnt, they can effectively inform and sensitize mothers. It will have a positive impact on children’s care, because if mothers are better informed, they will bring their children early to the health center and we will be able to better treat them. »

• What are the future prospects?

Cissé: « Cheick and I have jointly worked on the implementation of a continuous training program for the agents. We will co-run regular training workshops, using techniques learnt during the « training the trainers » session. Once every two months, we will discuss a health topic with the agents, and they will have the opportunity to talk about their field experiences. »

Cheick: « We will indeed pursue the process that was initiated with those training sessions. As a matter of fact, we have already held our first agents’ training session, which focused on Acute Respiratory Infections. We opted for a participatory and thematic approach. We started with children diseases in general, and then gradually focused on ARI. The field experiences of the agents served as the discussion basis, and we exchanged around practical situations. »

Cissé: « The next topic we plan to tackle is nutrition. The idea is to give them the theoretical content. With the communication techniques they learnt, they now master the form. Now, we bring them the content so that they can hold the talks by themselves.»

Nana: « Those regular training workshops with Cheick and Dr Cissé are a good thing for us agents. With our field experience, we are confronted with new diseases and new situations that we don’t know how to handle. With those trainings, we can discuss those topics and learn about them. Once every two month – it’s not too much !»

• The last word… ?

Cheick: « Thanks to the training, we implemented a new framework for exchange among the Pesinet team. The mission of the agents evolves, not in terms of job description but in terms of quality of work. They will know how to counsel families and better respond to child diseases. It is up to us to fuel the dynamics and regularly discuss health issues as well as their experiences. We must not forget to re-invent things. I have good hope ! »

>> See pictures of the training session

A new training manual for Pesinet weighing agents’s weekly check-up has been designed. It explains through images the key steps of the health check-up and data collection process. Discover the images drawn by Tanguy !

On June 26, an information meeting was organized in front of the District Chief’s  house for inhabitants of Bamako Coura. Families of the district had been invited via the town crier and the local radio.

The objective of the meeting was to explain in detail the Pesinet service to the families, describe how it was working in practice, the advantages and benefits of subscribing to Pesinet in terms of decrease in health spending, health follow-up, access to examination and treatment.

After the speeches of the counsellers to the District Chief, Pesinet’s Managing Director explained the orgin of the program, its objectives and key data about health situation of under 5 in Mali.

Mrs Kanté, volunteering as animator with Pesinet, gave a inspiring speech and strongly stressed the added-value of Pesinet for the families of Bamako Coura, which has been chosen as the pilot district for the initiative.

Cheicknè Coulibaly, program coordinator, explained then the service in depth and answered families’questions.

Families already enrolled in the program also had an opportunity to give a testimony and to answer other mothers’ questions.

At the end of the meeting, populations expressed their hope to see the program develop beyond the pilot district, to benefit more populations very soon.

Some pictures:

On January 9th 2010, representatives of various organizations working on  healthcare and development in Mali, executives from local healthcare structures, elected members, representatives of the local district and families living in the area gathered in the healthcare center’s courtyard for the official launch of Pesinet’s activities in the district III of Bamako. The ceremony was chaired by the Malian Health Minister, Mr. Oumar Ibrahima Touré.

The Mayor responsible for Healthcare in District III, Mrs Djire Mariam Diallo, opened the ceremony with a welcome address during which she expressed her satisfaction that the District III had been selected as pilot zone for the development of an innovative project using Information and Communication Technologies to improve healthcare.

The representative of the Pesinet Association in Mali, Antoine de Clerck, then took the floor to present the founding principles of the Pesinet service, its objectives and its functionning. Two films in French and Bambara, were shown to explain Pesinet service to the audience. Ms. Coulibaly testified about her expérience as a Pesinet subscriber. She has been subscribing to the service for 1 year to follow-up on the health status of her child Aboubacar.

Antoine de Clerck warmly thanked all project stakeholders and in particular the partners of the association in France – Antropia, the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation, the BNP Paribas Foundation and Medicament Export – and in Mali – the Ministry of Health and its e-health agency, the Regional Health Department, the healthcare center in District III, the Orange Mali Foundation, the BNP Paribas subsidiary in mali, BICIM, and the Malian communicaiton agency DFA Communication.

The doctor responsible for managing the Health Center in District III, Mrs. N’Diaye Hawa Thiam, and the representative of the Pesinet association in Mali then officially signed the agreement, which formalizes the commitments of the association and the health center in the joint implementation of Pesinet’s health monitoring program for children.

Mrs. Diawara Aminata Kamian, Managing Director of the Orange Mali Foundation, expressed her pride to support the Pesinet Association. She reminded that the foundation had been a founding partner of the project in Mali. “Indeed, the project meets the objective of the Orange Mali Foundation, which is to implement sustainable actions that will bring lasting structural change for a maximum number of people.

Mr. Daouda Fall, Associate Director of DFA Communication then took the floor to explain the why his company had chosen to support the Pesinet Association. The communications agency offered to organized the ceremony and created for free communications materials for the event.

The Minister of Health closed the ceremony with a supportive speech. He stressed that Pesinet was “an appropriate response to child healthcare problems, since it allowed to” raise families’ awareness of the concept of medical follow-up. ” The Minister said that Pesinet is a” major innovation “. “As a paid service very affordable, it helps to educate families about prevention”, he added. Read the speech of the Malian Health Minister.

The ceremony was successful in publicizing the program Pesinet among people and public institutions gathered on the occasion. Many Pesinet subscribers were present and played as ambassadors and the service among other families in the neighborhood. The event was broadcasted on the National News, and also relayed in the local press. To read some articles published, see the press review for January 2010.

Watch the report broadcasted on national TV (in French only).

Pesinet has been operating since January 2010 on a pilot zone in the district of Bamako Coura, in the capital city of Mali.

• 600 children are currently subscribing to the service in this zone.
• 4 full-time agents and 1 full-time supervisor have been recruited,
• A local doctor works 10 hours a week for Pesinet,
• 1 child out of 4 enrolled in the program resort to the health center at least once a month for curative or follow-up examinations.

The service is currently being deployed on two new zones in Bamako in partnership with two new partnering health centres. 320 new children have already subscribed ans 4 new agents have joined the team.

An evaluation survey carried out by a Phd student under the supervision of the National Agency for e-health and Medical Informatics in Mali shows that:

• 96% of the families are satisfied with the service
• 99% want to recommend the service to their relatives or friends
• 97% find it “very cheap”
• 78% of the mothers subscribing have low education levels (none, or primary school)
• 90% have either unstable or rather unstable revenues
• 95% think the main advantage of the service is “Good health follow-up and affordable cost”

Watch our video clip to see how the teams are working in the field and delivering on its social promises. Click here…