‘Nurses should change their attitudes’ – Dr. Patricia Kabba

The Program Manager, National School and Adolescent Young People Health Programme (NSAHP) in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) Dr. Patricia Kabba, called on nurses on January 24 at the Presidential Lounge of the National Stadium in Freetown that they should change their attitude towards teenagers if they want to succeed in the family planning programme because they have to give them adolescent friendly service. She dilated that health care provision is a Godly call and they should therefore be ready to perform their duties with faithfulness, determination an sincerity as health workers.

She stressed that they should be polite to the teenagers and if the services they went for are not available in the health centres they should give them directions to ease their stress.

She urged health workers to prove themselves well for them to have justification to the public, adding that integrating teenagers in our country should be the priority of nurses.

She made these admonitions while talking at a one day meeting on the dissemination of standard documents on adolescent health.

She described the meeting as important as it sets the pace for nurses to know exactly what they should do and what not to do.

She pointed out that over the years some institutions have contributed in responding to teenager health problems.

She observed that there are now so many guiding principles to help them address issues of adolescence.

On her part, Dr. Linda Foray, intimated that the World Health Organization (WHO) was very instrumental in the development of the document, while currently UNFPA and UNICEF are implementing the standards.

She emphasized the need to pay great attention to adolescents as they form the bulk of the population in the country and are a very vulnerable class.

By Abdulai Mento Kamara

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