The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority is set to offer a free Contact Tracing Training Program as the government girds for a long battle with the Covid-19.
Aniceto Bertiz III, Tesda deputy director-general for partnerships and linkages, said the new highly responsive program will run for 15 days and will be administered via blended distance and face-to-face learning.
Secretary and Tesda Director-General Isidro Lapeña earlier issued a memorandum directing the development of the competency-based curriculum for the new training program, according to Bertiz.
“Secretary Lapeña wants Tesda to make a difference in the fight against Covid-19, and we recognize there is an urgent need to train individuals interested in working or volunteering as contact tracers,” Bertiz said.
Tesda has already created the core competency standards for the new training program with the help of the Health Human Resources and Development Bureau of the Department of Health, Bertiz said.
“In fact, we are already developing the online materials to be used for the program, which will be offered for free starting September,” Bertiz said.
“We intend to initially train volunteers from local government units and large corporations as part of their contact tracing strategies,” he said.
Bertiz said would-be trainees for the program must have completed at least 10 years basic education or its equivalent, plus good communication skills.
In Covid-19, contact tracing is the tracking down of infected individuals, and then finding everybody who has been near them and encouraging them to self-isolate at home until it is clear they are not sick.
“The DOH and several non-government organizations already have plenty of experience in contact tracing in fighting another disease – the HIV,” Bertiz said, referring to the virus that causes the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS.
In HIV contact tracing, or partner notification, individuals are identified, located, and informed that partners they have had sex with or used injectable drugs with have been diagnosed HIV-positive.
In the fight against HIV, contact tracing is meant to encourage the partners to test for HIV to identify and treat new infections as early as possible. – Press release
April 24, 2024
