JICA In-Country Training for Vaccine Management and Cold Chain Maintenance cooperating with Department of Health and Social Affairs in Chuuk State

In collaboration with the FSM Department of Health and Social Affairs (DH&SA) of the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Project for System Improvement of Expanded Program on Immunization in the Pacific Region (J-PIPS) conducted an In-Country training on Vaccine management and Cold Chain maintenance in Chuuk State from 23^rd to 26^th September 2013.

Japanese Government, through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), conducted “The Project for Strengthening the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in the Pacific Region” from February 2005 to February 2010 for a period of 5 years, targeting 13 countries, to enhance human capacity development for Vaccine Management, Cold Chain maintenance, and EPI sharp waste management. JICA has immensely contributed to the immunization programme under the J-PIPS framework through provision of equipment, supporting J-PIPS workshops, and regional and domestic training program in each country. In terms of training, a total of 83 EPI Nurses and 54 Cold Chain Technicians from the PICs were trained. However, despite of all efforts, the fact still remains that each countries still struggle to improve the child mortality rate. Therefore, the Government of Japan decided to continue human resource development through establishment of the Project for System Improvement of Expanded Programme on Immunization in the Pacific Region (J-PIPS Project Phase 2) from February 2011 to January2014.

 The main purpose of In-Country training in Chuuk State is to update and share the knowledge and skills on Vaccine Management and Cold Chain Maintenance with health workers and cold chain technicians. Twenty four (24) health workers and three (3) technicians in Chuuk attended the workshop aggressively to improve their capacity, and participants were able to acquire new knowledge and skills in Vaccine Management and Cold Chain Maintenance to give every child better health services, especially in the field of immunization which is to protect children from life-threatening diseases.