KHPT facilitated a two-day Training of Trainers (ToT) session in Bengaluru on January 19 and 20 for 130 district resource persons from the Departments of Health & Family Welfare (HFW), Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR), and Women and Child Development (WCD), and KHPT, under the Government of Karnataka’s Graama Panchayath Arogya Amrutha Abhiyaana (GPAAA). Ms. Priyanka Mary Francis, IAS, Commissioner, RDPR, addressed the participants on the first day of the training, and released the GPAAA toolkit developed by KHPT and the state to guide the planning and implementation of health interventions at Gram Panchayat level.

The resource persons were trained on the various components of the GPAAA program, including both technical and programmatic aspects. The sessions were taken by senior state officials, included Dr Anil S, Joint Director, NTEP, who talked about the basics of TB and TB-free Panchayats; Dr Shridhar, Deputy Director, Nutrition, HFW, who took a session on undernutrition, anaemia and menstrual hygiene;  Dr. Nazia, State Coordinator, National Programme for Prevention and Control Of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases And Stroke (NPCDCS), HFW, who talked about Non Communicable Diseases; Dr. Rajani P, Deputy Director, Mental Health, HFW, who spoke on the importance of addressing mental health; Mr Mohammed Yusuf, Director, Development, RDPR, who detailed GPAAA guidelines;  Dr. Vasundhara Devi, State Consultant, RDPR, who guided the participants on developing a micro plan, and  Ms. ASHA H K, Senior Assistant Director, WCD, who took a session on child marriage.

At the end of the TOT, representatives of all three departments, along with KHPT’s GPAAA District Leads, had a group discussion to prepare the action plan for district TOTs and Gram Panchayat level rollout trainings.