The Jose Eduardo dos Santos campus of the University of Namibia has organised a two-week short course on cold chain equipment maintenance and repair for handymen and artisans for the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS).
The training, which commenced last week at the UNAM Engineering Campus, aims to equip participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively manage cold chain equipment in their respective districts.
The training aims to ensure that people who are managing vaccines and medicines are well trained on how to store, transport, and distribute vaccines and medicines within the required temperature range.
Dr Dickson Chembe served as the trainer.
"We hope that this training is going to empower the participants; they have already gained a lot of knowledge and theory, and they are now getting practical skills which they are going to utilise in managing cold chain equipment, and what we are expecting from this training is that in the future we are going to have less damage to vaccines and we are going to have a much healthier Namibian child."
A total of 39 participants from hospitals in all 14 regions received both theoretical and practical training covering key areas such as cold chain tools, pipework, compressor replacement, gas charging and discharging, as well as electrical fault finding and troubleshooting.
The training is expected to strengthen Namibia's capacity in maintaining cold chain systems, thereby reducing vaccine damage and improving the health of children and mothers who are the end users.
The course, the first of its kind, is funded by UNICEF, as its consultant for cold chain logistics and vaccines, Nakambanda Abner, elaborates.
"The immunisation programme from the MoHSS identified the gap for the cold chain technicians that are already in the districts, and they did a request to UNICEF to source funds so that they can start up with this sort of training."
Amutenya Ekandjo, an artisan handyman from Khorixas Hospital in the Kunene region, is pleased to be part of the trainees.
"Most of us that are here are technicians of different hospitals, so it is in line with our duty because we are the ones that are maintaining cold chain equipment like fridges, cold rooms, and even mortuaries, so this is powerful because we didn't have knowledge, for instance, to troubleshoot if the fridge or cold room was not working, but for this past week we learned much more."