Tag: Coronavirus

Global Health

WiRED Vaccinator Train-the-Trainer Launched in Uganda and Liberia

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WiRED International launched the train-the-trainer portion of our Vaccinator Training Program (VTP) on July 6 when lead medical trainers in Kisumu, Kenya, connected by Zoom with medical professionals in Naguru, Uganda. A participant in Liberia also joined the session. The purpose of the three-day workshop was to prepare medical professionals to use WiRED’s VTP curriculum to train local vaccinators on how to distribute and administer COVID-19 vaccines scheduled to arrive later this year.

Community Health Worker Related

WiRED’s Community Health Workers Battle COVID-19 Delta Variants in Kenyan Communities

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Less than 1% of Africans have received a vaccination against COVID-19. As the virus, strengthened by the Delta variant, sweeps through Africa, WiRED International’s Community Health Workers (CHWs) are preparing communities to accept the idea of vaccinations even before COVAX delivers the vaccines. Moreover, WiRED-trained vaccinators stand ready to administer vaccinations as soon as those vaccines are delivered. And so, training of health workers and vaccinators prepares these communities in two important ways: by gaining their acceptance of COVID-19 vaccinations and training workers to be ready to administer them.

In Kisumu, Kenya, WiRED’s CHWs continue to battle COVID-19 and other dangerous infections within their communities. What follows are excerpts from their recent reports.

Global Health

Americans Celebrate July 4th as COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Rise

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On July 4th, WiRED International’s volunteers and board celebrate along with millions of other Americans who have been fortunate enough to get their COVID-19 shots, and are now free from most restrictions faced last year at this time. We are reminded, however, that people in most of the countries we serve are still waiting for an opportunity to receive their shots, avoid the infection and get back to a normal life.

Global Health

WiRED COVID-19 Education in Armenia

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All over the world, WiRED International is providing free-access education about COVID-19 to organizations, schools, students and healthcare professionals via our module series — The Coronavirus Threat: Key Topics in Infection Control.

According to the World Health Organization, from January 3 to May 18. 2021, there have been 221,139 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Armenia and 4,346 confirmed deaths. Out of a population of 2,968,096 as of May 18, only 565 vaccine doses have been administered. This stunning statistic underlines the enormous issue of vaccine inequality.

Community Health Worker Related

WiRED’s Community Health Workers Report from Kenya

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WiRED International’s corps of trained community health workers (CHWs) continue to deliver vital healthcare services in Kisumu, Kenya, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

During three weeks in March, 12 CHWs reached 4,533 people with basic clinical services, health education and health surveillance. The CHWs were not able to assist as many people as is usual in a month because all 12 workers also completed WiRED’s Vaccinator Training Program (VTP).

Climate Change

Earth Day 2021

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The COVID-19 pandemic cruelly demonstrates the vulnerability of human life and how our actions can impact the health of others. Earth Day gives us the opportunity to think about how the health of people and animals is closely linked with the changing climate and intensifying environmental conditions.

Exactly how do climate change and the environment relate to our health?

Global Health

COVID-19 Update

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WiRED International’s Vaccinator Training Program is firing up in Kenya and Peru, and articles will appear soon chronicling its progress. In the meantime, here are some recent updates on the COVID-19 pandemic and the rush to get populations vaccinated as cases rise worldwide.

Scientists expect viruses to keep mutating; sometimes they emerge and disappear and sometimes they emerge and persist. Multiple COVID-19 variants are circulating globally, and CDC is monitoring these variants per the following classifications:

• Variant of interest
• Variant of concern
• Variant of high consequence

Global Health

Breaking News! WiRED Vaccinator Training Begins This Week in Kenya!

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On Monday, March 15, 2021, WiRED launched the first class of our Vaccinator Training Program (VTP) in Obunga, Kenya. Nurse Winnie Nafula and clinician Zablon Kitoli are leading the instruction. Twenty-six students are taking the 45 hours of training, after which they will sit for a final exam, and, if successful, will receive a WiRED certificate. WiRED has already trained 15 Community Health Workers (CHWs), who since the fall of 2020 have made over 6,000 monthly contacts addressing basic health problems and dispensing general health information among their communities. These CHWs have been instrumental in teaching many thousands of people about COVID-19 prevention measures. Soon, they will introduce basic information about COVID-19 vaccines, so the communities will understand the value of the shot and be ready when vaccines arrive.

Global Health

WiRED Launches COVID Vaccinator Training Program

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The COVAX global effort to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to underserved countries is well underway. But what needs to happen to get doses from airports to arms?

WiRED International announces the launch of our Vaccinator Training Program (VTP), based entirely on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) training curriculum but with enhanced features to prepare what we call grassroots vaccinators. The objective of WiRED’s program is to train people at the local level to move vaccines safely from central drop-off points to communities, to prepare the communities for vaccinations, to properly screen patients, to administer COVID-19 vaccinations and to monitor patients after the shot.