Other health personnel in health educational activities in an under-fives clinic in Northern Nigeria.

TLDR: Clinics attendants and auxiliaries were trained to play specific roles in the health team concept of a comprehensive health service, designed to achieve the Federal Government's aim of total health coverage of the nation by stages.

Abstract: A basic health service is a network of peripheral, intermediate, and central health establishment, staffed by adequately trained professional and auxiliary personnel, capable of performing effectively a group of functions essential to the health of the people (WHO 1969). I n the Third National Development Plan for Nigeria, 1975-80, a Basic Health Unit refers to a network comprising one comprehensive health centre (30 beds), four health centres (48 beds), five mobile clinics and twenty health clinics to serve a target population of 50,000 within an administrative Division or District (Federal Republic of Nigeria 1975). The Plan will substantially provide the infrastructure necessary to achieve the Federal Government's aim of total health coverage of the nation by stages. At the moment, about 25% of the population receive some form of health care and this coverage was expected to reach 40% by 1980. In this Plan, the training of other health professionals and auxiliaries has been intensified. Due to scarce resources, staff and materials must be matched at appropriate levels so as to maximize the overall health benefits to the community. This will also help to establish a health care system that is best adapted to the local conditions and the level of our health technology (Howard 1978). In any busy out-patients department (OPD) in Nigeria, the consulting staff, be they doctors or nurses, are so overworked that they have very little time for well-planned health education activities, which should have been important components of their work schedules. This is necessary because communicable diseases form the bulk of the consultations, treatment, and admissions (Fig. 1) . In the 1979 studies, well babies formed only 7% of the study population while protein calorie malnutrition (PCM). resoiratory infections. and gastroenteritis ' were the leading causes of morbidity. From studies in similar populations, infant mortality rates varied between 50 and 150 per 1,000 total live births, while the childhood mortality rate was as high as 350 per 1,000 children under five years of age (Malumfashi Project 1975). Because of such statistics as found in the Under5 Clinic in Samaru Health Centre, in Northern Nigeria, we devised a plan whereby clinic attendants and auxiliaries were trained to play specific roles in the health team concept of a comprehensive health service. The concept of enrolling anyone capable of helping us in improving health was used at varionis levels according to their training, experience, and particularly their health educational roles. 1. The Records Unit. This is usually where the babies and their mothers make the first contact with the clinic and the impressions gained here are of the utmost importance for the acceptance of modern medicine. Both first and surnames are easily interchangable among the Hausas, and this poses a problem in correct identification and documentation on subsequent visits. For example, Isa Uthman may re-register as Uthman Isa on a second visit. It is impressed upon the records clerk that checks should be applied to prevent errors. He has the added responsibility of impressing upon the mothers the necessity of presenting the small retrieval cards. Valuable time is lost when these are not produced and issuing of temporary cards leads to discontinuity in treatment schedules.