Net gains in Afghanistan

Wellcome Trust CD-ROMs are being used to help train staff working in refugee camps in war-torn Afghanistan. Decades of civil war and political instability have driven more than six million people into refugee camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. With a near collapse of the health and economic infrastructure, these refugees are prey to an upsurge of diseases such as malaria and leishmaniasis. Each year there are an estimated 2.5 million cases of malaria in Afghanistan and more than 135 000 of leishmaniasis, which in its cutaneous form is a chronic and often disfiguring condition.

Against this backdrop, HealthNet International (HNI), a non-governmental development organisation, has been conducting malaria and leishmaniasis control activities throughout Afghanistan and in Pakistan-based refugee camps. As part of this programme HNI runs training courses and workshops on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of both diseases for healthcare personnel. HNI has selected the Wellcome Trust's 'Topics in International Health' (TIH) educational CD-ROMs on Malaria and Leishmaniasis to deliver some of this training.

"The TIH discs have greatly facilitated and improved the delivery of HNI's training courses," says Dr Richard Reithinger, a programme manager with HNI. "We have distributed the malaria and leishmaniasis CDs to all our regional offices in Afghanistan and they are an integral part of our teaching aids used by teaching staff." He continues: "The national malaria, leishmaniasis and insecticide-treated mosquito net trainers and trainees have greatly benefited from the materials' clarity, user-friendliness and visual appeal."

Related links

Topics in International Health: Full list of titles in this CD-ROM series