Training

By training physicians, nurses, health workers, and administrators in settings of poverty, we are developing a new generation of healthcare providers able to deliver comprehensive, community-based care through the PIH model in even the poorest and most remote places.

Training is one of the most important ways of reinforcing, replicating and transmitting the PIH model. Training starts with our own clinical and social service staff and with our partners in the communities where we work – the patients and community health workers whose participation and leadership are essential to our success. And it starts with the assumption that we all have a great deal to learn from each other, not just about the latest diagnostic techniques and training protocols but about the needs and resources of the community and the value of genuine partnership and shared commitment.

Our strong focus on training responds not just to our projects’ needs but to the critical shortage of medical professionals and the inadequate staffing of public health services in the countries where we work. Training and paying community health workers to assist with many key medical and paramedical functions is one of the most important elements of the PIH model of care and one of the first activities we undertake when starting a new engagement.

Training is also a key to spreading our model of care far beyond the communities where we serve. As we have grappled with effective ways to respond to the crisis in global health, PIH has scaled up its ability and commitment to provide training and technical assistance for other governmental and nongovernmental organizations battling poverty and disease.

In Haiti, Peru, Russia, and now Rwanda, we have built regional or national training centers and helped our partners to launch ambitious training programs. With National Training Centers in both Cange and Hinche and a prominent role in the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training (CHART) Network, Zanmi Lasante provides training for health professionals, community health workers and program administrators from all across Haiti and the Caribbean region. Similarly, Socios En Salud in Peru trains peers from other Latin American countries, and Inshuti Mu Buzima in Rwanda is constructing a training center that will house conference rooms and dormitories, so that clinical staff and program managers from other agencies and programs in Rwanda and Central Africa can come for on-site courses and practical training.

Finally, we are working to standardize training materials used at all of our sites to help insure quality, internal consistency, and the transfer of learning and best practices across programs and countries.