Curriculum and training module on the community-directed intervention (CDI) strategy for faculties of medicine and health sciences. Trainers' handbook

Overview

 The communities, in partnership with health professionals, can manage the prevention and treatment of selected diseases that are prevalent in their environment. This has been confirmed by a multi-country study on community directed treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI) to control Onchocerciasis (river blindness). This strategy can be effectively and efficiently applied as a means of bringing multiple health interventions to the poorest communities, especially in remote areas. Such an approach is known under the generic name of Community Directed Intervention (CDI).

CDI empowers communities to get involved in decision-making for their own health. Therefore it has the potential to strengthen Primary Health Care, in particular where resources and infrastructure are insufficient. CDI is also a good approach for boosting community participation in health delivery systems. For these reasons, APOC initiated the development of a curriculum for medical and nursing schools as a means of disseminating CDI in Africa.

In 2007, APOC invited six experts, under the chairmanship of Professor Mamoun Homeida (University of Medical Sciences & Technology, Khartoum, Sudan), to develop a curriculum on CDI Strategy.

We are hopeful that this second edition which has taken in account inputs from numerous contributors will effectively contribute to the preparation and production of future generations of health personnel empowered to use the CDI strategy to scale up priority health interventions at community level.