Zimbabwe League Against Epilepsy trains health personnel

Harare (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe League Against Epilepsy (ZLAE) will next week conduct training for medical personnel in the capital to improve the handling of people with the condition.

The training, to be conducted in conjunction with the Epilepsy Resource Centre of Zimbabwe (ERCZ) will involve three sessions covering general medical officers (GMOs), nurses and the Allied Health Workers (AHW).

Training will be face to face and online beginning on November 21 at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals for GMOs, student and junior nurses from the hospital.

It will move to Chitungwiza General Hospital the following day for the same group of health personnel and on November 23, it will move to the College of Health Science, the University of Zimbabwe, and the College of Primary Care Physicians for allied health workers.

For GMOs, nurses and students, the training will focus on childhood epilepsy, selected adult forms of epilepsy, technology used in epilepsy management and de-stigimatisation.

That of allied health workers will focus on types of epilepsy, psychosocial management and destigmatisation of the condition.

“The training of health personnel about the childhood epilepsy and destigmatisation of epilepsy should be currently supported considering that there has been limited continuous professional development on epilepsy in Zimbabwe,” ZLAE said in a statement announcing the training.

There is approximately 50 million people with epilepsy worldwide, 40 million of whom are in developing countries including Zimbabwe, which now recognizes the condition as a form of disability.

Epilepsy affects people of all ages and is characterised by unpredictable and recurring seizures.
“In Africa, epilepsy is not prioritised and about 80 percent of people with epilepsy are not receiving treatment resulting in huge gaps. These gaps in treatment and awareness are addressed by conducting training awareness like the one we are proposing,” ZLAE said.

New Ziana