Bicol University College of Nursing (BUCN) has achieved yet another milestone, as seven of its respected faculty members were able to partner up and share their expertise with 25 Health Care Workers (HCWs) in the recently concluded live-in Adolescent Job Aid (ADJA) Manual skills training for HCWs held on June 20 to 24, 2022, at Villa Rosita Hotel, Naga City, Camarines Sur.

The training team, headed by their coordinator, retired Prof. Jane Pecson, is made up of six other professors, namely Prof. Roanne Morano, Prof. Brigida Lobete, Prof. Cauline Ruth Pangan, Dr. Nera Galan,Dr. Charina Cipcon, and Prof. Eduardo Thaddeus Livica, were invited as representatives of BU. They tackled topics on the creation or strengthening of an adolescent-friendly, in-community, safe, confidential, and inclusive help centers addressing Sexual Gender-based Violence (SGBV), Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), Sexually-Transmitted Infections (STIs), and unintended pregnancies to five targeted municipalities in Camarines Sur, namely Buhi, Caramoan, Garchitorena, Ocampo, and Siruma.

“Since 2011, BU was partnered with the Department of Health (DOH) as [a] training center for [Basic Emergency Obsetric and Newborn Care] (BEmONC) and [Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health and Nutrition] (MNCHN). It is also the first academe partner of DOH to train HCWs for different program[s] in the Philippines. With this, our professor[s] undergo training[s] to [be able to] train HCW in different municipalities,” said Pecson in an interview last Tuesday.

Furthermore, she stated that this is not the first time she has coordinated with ADRA to hold a training for the said participants. In fact, she was also the one who coordinated with them way back 2019, where the latter came to an agreement with Bicol University to train some municipalities in dealing with adolescents – how to put up an adolescent center for them, as well as managing such centers.

“With all trainings we participated in, we were able to gain more knowledge and experience [with regards to] what’s happening in the real ground of HCWs in implementing the programs of DOH through actual sharing of each every HCW, in which our professors could share it within the four corners of the BUCN classroom with our students,” she added.

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency Philippines or ADRA Philippines is a “global humanitarian organization dedicated to serving humanity so that all may live as God intended’,” belonging to a worldwide ADR network which is made up of over 130 supporting and implementing officers. With its 35 years of service, ADRA Philippines globally helps those affected by disasters as well as vulnerable communities in terms of improving their social development.

With the aim of providing gender responsive training to healthcare staff, community health workers, as well as duty bearers, ADRA has established Project TOGETHER, or “Uniting Towards Gender Equality for the Enjoyment of Women’s and Girls’ Total Health and Rights” in partnership of ADRA Canada, which was also funded by Global Affairs Canada, which focuses its trainings on women-centered, inclusive care, and counselling about SGBV response, SRHR, as well as STI prevention and treatment.

DOH, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), has developed a user’s guide manual on the Foundational Course on Adolescent Health Care for the Primary Health Service in response to the need of further developing a healthcare personnel’s comprehensive skills, the main purpose of the conduct of the five-day AJA Manual skills training for healthcare workers | Written by: Bianca Therese Rico