Immunisation Training Needs in Malawi

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH) and its immunisation partners conducted a training needs assessment in May 2013 to assess the current status of immunisation training programmemes in health training institutions; to identify unmet training needs; and to recommend possible solutions for training of health workers on a regular basis. Design: A cross-sectional; descriptive study. Setting: Health training institutions in Malawi; a developing country that does not regularly update its curricula to include new vaccines and management tools; nor train healthcare workers on a regular basis. Subjects: Researchers interviewed Malawi's central immunisation manager; three zonal immunisation officers; six district officers; 12 health facility immunisation coordinators; and eight principals of training institutions. Results: All health training institutions in Malawi include immunisation in their preservice training curricula. However; the curriculum is not regularly updated; thus; the graduates are not well equipped to provide quality services. In addition; the duration of the training curriculum is inadequate; and in-service training sessions for managers and service providers are conducted only on an ad hoc basis. Conclusion: All levels of Malawi's health system have not met sufficient training needs for providing immunisations; and the health training institutions teach their students with outdated materials. It is recommended that the training institutions update their training curricula regularly and the service providers are trained on a regular basis