Introduction

The Combatting Childhood Communicable Disease (CCCD) Project is a major collaborative effort of Sub-Saharan African nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps, the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and other donor nations to red we morbidity and mortality in children under five years of age. The CCCD Project focuses on the following target diseases which affect the lives of millions of children every year:

· vaccine-preventable diseases
· diarrheal diseases and dehydration
· malaria

Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) assigned to the CCCD Project serve in the role of health educators at the national and community levels. m e Peace Corps CCCD Training Manual, made possible by a cooperative agreement between AID and Peace Corps, is designed to provide these Volunteers and Host Country Counterparts with intensive training in health education for selective primary health care (PHC) activities including programs in expanded immunization, diarrhea! disease control, malaria control, nutrition, and training of health workers.

Although the manual was developed as part of the CCCD Project, it may be used as a resource for training any health workers whose jobs include a focus on health education and the selective PHC activities. The manual is based on a generic approach to health training that:

· reflects an understanding of the role of the Peace Corps health worker in the context of providing primary health care (PHC) in the developing world.

· is sufficiently flexible and adaptable for use in Peace Corps countries world-wide.

· addresses the needs of participants with varying degrees of health knowledge and work experience.

· considers important field realities such as variations in the length of technical training or accessibility of a local community for application of training.

· allows for the integration of technical and other training components to promote the attainment of well-rounded development skills.

A central theme of the CCCD Manual is the recognition that technical expertise is significant and useful only when it is applied in balance with other abilities. A person technically competent in disease control is of little value to the community unless he or she has the ability to work cooperatively with others to motivate them toward a more self-reliant and healthy life. It is essential that Peace Corps Volunteers and Host Country Counterparts develop a variety of complementary skills, knowledge and attitudes that will serve to weave together the many threads of community development. Therefore, two primary goals of the manual can be identified:

1. To assist Volunteers and Host Country Counterparts in developing knowledge and skills in the selective areas of primary health care.

2. To help Volunteers and Host Country Counterparts develop the complementary skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary to work cooperatively with community members in designing health education strategies that meet the needs of the people.

The training program outlined in this manual emphasizes the parallels which exist between training and community-based development work in primary health care. Throughout the program, participants are encouraged to take a full and active role in their own education and to make decisions that will affect them and the people with whom they work and live. They are urged to cooperate with others, to identify and use available talents and resources, and to practice skills that help motivate people and involve them in the process of their own education.