Kanchanaburi province is one of the provinces reporting high malaria cases in Thailand. The province shares its international border with Myanmar on the west and has a significant number of migrant populations and ethnic communities. The regional malaria CSO platform has selected three districts of the Kanchanaburi for the network building focusing districts reporting high numbers of malaria cases and has high mobility. The Platform with the support of the American Refugee Committee (ARC) conducted network building workshops in the Srisawat, Sangklaburi, and Thong Tha Phum districts on 10, 16, and 17 September 2020 respectively.
The workshop divided into 3 main sessions –
- Update of Malaria situation in Sangklaburi district
- Training on establishing strong networks and how to utilize effectively including training to develop a work plan for local funding
- Forming a communication network as a platform
The participants include the chief of the Public health department, representatives from community development, vector-borne disease unit, malaria posts, community volunteer, village chiefs, ARC staff, and CSO platform secretariat. During the group work session, the participants discussed the priority activities for community disease and identified mobile test and treatment services in remote villages and education sessions for Malaria, dengue, and chikungunya were in their high priority. The group also highlighted the regular communication and information sharing platform would facilitate coordination and patient follow-up activities.
As a result, the respective district line group was created to share the malaria knowledge, malaria situation in the village, particulars of positive patients with photo to follow up, and information of people who cross the Thailand and Myanmar border. Three different community networks will be connected to one provincial network during the next activities.
