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Training of Nurse Aides Promises Better Access To Health

Binga villagers welcome the training of nurse aides, a development they believe has a potential of saving many lives. Image by ZimFocus


BY VUSINDLU MAPHOSA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | OCT 30, 2021

Binga's health facilities are few and far apart from each other, now a non-profit organisation is training nurse aides to bring help closer to communities.


BINGA (The Citizen Bulletin) — Binga, one of the most underdeveloped remote, but rich with resources districts in Matabeleland North eagerly needs a cocktail of developmental programmes among them a better health delivery system and infrastructure.  

Accessing health services in Binga is still a mammoth task for the villagers who have to travel or walk very long distances to reach the health facilities. The only immediate solution has been having village health workers and nurse aides in their locality since most of them live far from the clinics and hospital.

In answering the problems of the community, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Humanitarian Hope International Trust (HHIT) recently started training nurse aides and empowering women in Siaubuwa, and equipping the participants in the training with skills they would use to serve their communities in times of need.

Currently, 50 community members in Siabuwa are being trained as nurse aides by the HHIT.

HHIT Regional Director Qhubekani Ngwenya says their action was instigated by their survey results which established that the district as a whole was lagging in development.

He laments the lack of stakeholders willing to conduct significant developmental programmes and outreach in Binga, adding that his organisation had to communicate with a sister in charge in Siabuwa where they proposed to train more nurses assisting the community.

“These people are not just nurse aides, but they are also community health workers. This is because after their training they can assist in curbing COVID-19 and assisting limited staff in the hospital. Instead of having few nurses at hospitals, the nurse aides are able to chip in and assist the nurses and doctors,” Ngwenya says.


“The skills of these nurse aides are critical in a community. We also have built first aid response centres especially in communities that are far from the hospital.”
Qhubekani Ngwenya, HHIT Regional Director


Ngwenya further says the nurse aides are being trained to have a key role in the community as their presence can save lives.

He encourages the community leaders and local authorities to use those nurses in first aid responses as an emergency mitigation team to avert possible life-threatening circumstances before one is taken off to health facilities.

“These nurse aides act as the immediate response teams in order to curb the worsening condition or death of a person. They can apply the skills they acquired during training to save lives in the community,” he says.


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“The first intake we had in Siabuwa had more than 50 people which included the young and the old. Some of the training includes a nurse assistant course, first aid as well as other programmes like detergent making.”

“We are speaking to the local authorities so that we can take these projects to all Matabeleland North communities. There is a need to raise alarms and educate people,” he says. “In November, we are going to establish new projects in Siabuwa.”

Ngwenya says apart from training nurse aides they have other programmes to equip Binga community members.

“After we got these people we grouped them. We have come up with several projects which include market gardening. These projects will be controlled by the people in the group. We want to make sure they develop and that they can bring food on the table,” Ngwenya says.

Community members are happy over the programmes brought by HHIT.

Edwin Munkuli says they always face challenges when there is a need for emergency health services due to distant health facilities from most of their homes.

Siabuwa Rural Health Centre in Binga...Villagers are excited that now nurse aides can attend to them at their homes. Image by Freeman


He is excited that the training of their people to attend to them even before one reaches a health institution has a potential of saving many lives that would be lost due to the distance one has to travel before he or she gets attended to by health workers.


“This organisation has brought exciting programmes in our community and we are happy and believe that this will save many lives. Instead of one expecting to be only attended to when he or she reaches the clinic, according to what we are told, the person will get attended even at home before leaving for the clinic or hospital.”
Edwin Munkuli, a villager


He says what excites him is that local people are benefiting from the training given by the organisations which means that those who have trained can now earn a living through such skills.

“Besides the trainees having to benefit the community, it makes us happy that they themselves have benefited from a skill that will enable them to earn a living here in Binga; we have a lot of young people who are not employed and this breeds crime,” he says.

Matabeleland North Provincial Medical Director Admire Kuretu confirms that there were trainings taking place in Binga but says they were not regulated by his office.

“Those nurse aide trainings are not regulated by the PMD’s office, but they are being trained by private players. We recruit but only those trained by certified institutions,” he says.


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