COMMUNITY BASED EDUCATION & SERVICE(COBES)

1. COMMUNITY BASED EDUCATION & SERVICE(COBES) By: Andrew Mwanika

2. BACKGROUND • Decentralisation • Feasibility study. • Curriculum change.

3. COBES • What its not. • A tool or learning strategy.

4. AS TOOL/STRATEGY • Authentic learning context. • Service Provision. • Civic responsibility • Strategic partnerships for Health

5. OBJECTIVES • Prepare students for Rural Practice. • Integrate Priority Health Programs into Training. • Acclimatize students to rural districts • Align training to Health needs. • Focus on households.

6. AUTHENTIC LEARNING CONTEXT • Life is unstructured. • COBES Motto: • “train Health workers in the communities they will serve” • Experiential learning. • Assessment- Portfolio.

7. SERVICE PROVISION • Primary health care & Family medicine • Access to Health. • Quality time. • Service Penetration.

8. ACHEIVEMENTS • Presence in 43 districts in all regions. • High Level of acceptance. • Community Based Health Projects. • Effective learning. • Partnerships.

9. Benefits of COBES to communities cont’d • Kalisizo students’ project implementation report, January 2007 page iv, “We visited 22 Households in Nininzi village, installed 17 hand washing facilities in 17 households, increased availability of sanitary facilities in households of Nninzi, held a health information seminar and pioneered creation of a MODEL village in Kalisizo Town Council” • Wakiso Project implementation report, November 2007, Page 5, “Successful de-worming of all people over 14 years who visited the out-patients department during the implementation period. De-worming of students and staff at selected schools was also accomplished successfully. Total coverage was 1,942 individuals. 800 were students and 1142 were people who had come to attend Out Patients department”.

10. Benefits of COBES to communities cont’d • Improving the life of the • communities they are placed: • One of the household • members using the hand • washing facility installed • by the 4th year students of • Kalisizo

11. Benefits of COBES to communities cont’d Health Education: One of the 4th year students at Wakiso Health Center giving a health talk before de-worming at the out patient unit

12. Benefits of COBES to communities cont’d Iganga students’ sanitation project visited 25 households in Nakavule village. We joined the town council in a sanitation drive to clean the town. We got involved in cleaning of the town; sweeping the reads and collection of rubbish”.(Students in red undergraduate coats)

13. A table showing students’ COBES projects proposed and implemented in 2007

14. A table cont’d

15. A table cont’d

16. CHALLENGES • Access to Learning Materials. • Supervision. • Student Welfare • Sustainability.

17. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS • District resource centres. • Family Medicine/ Portfolio • District budgets, Fees, Transport • National Policy, National budget, Partnerships.

18. CONCLUSION • High Potential: • Skill Shortage. • H.R.H.crisis. • Roll out to all tertiary institutions. • National service.