Outcome and Evaluation: 86 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed they had a better knowledge of the Senegal pandemic and disaster contingency plans. 89% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed they had a better understanding of their ministry's or agency's role in disaster response. 84% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they had a better understanding of the roles and resources of other Senegal government ministries or agencies during a disaster response. 92% of respondents had a better understanding of the potential role of the military during a pandemic. Going Forward: Participants were in strong agreement that the exercise helped them to better understand the contents of their disaster response plans, build relationships across ministerial lines and use their new found skills on a day-today basis in their current positions. Participants felt that follow up training and exercises would be essential to solidify concepts from this exercise.
Purpose Today's generation of adolescents is the largest in history, creating a major challenge for low and middle income countries faced with the necessity of addressing their growing healthcare needs. Our objective was to assess the extent to which health care providers in Guatemala are trained, knowledgeable and feel comfortable providing services to adolescents. Methods A sample of 20 medical providers were recruited from the School of Medicine at San Carlos University and its affiliated hospitals. Providers were interviewed face-to-face for 30-40 min using a semi-structured guide exploring their training, knowledge, skills and experience in adolescent health care. Recruitment continued until thematic saturation was reached. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and then analyzed for emergent themes using principles of framework analysis. Results The provider's mean age was 33.7 years [standard deviation (SD) = 10.2]. Most were female (65%) and practiced medicine in a metropolitan location. Results revealed the presence of five major themes: (1) Need for dedicated adolescent health services; (2) Presence of a multitude of barriers to providing adolescent health care; (3) Perceived comfort level in communicating with adolescents; (4) Limited knowledge of current adolescent specific services, programs, and guidelines; and (5) Gaps in medical education and training. Conclusion Providers recognize the need for increased and dedicated adolescent health care services. There is strong support for the creation of a credentialed national adolescent health training program.
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