The Malaria Control Program (MCP) of the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Health in collaboration with Center for Health Development 3 through the support of Global Fund Consolidated Malaria Project conduct Refresher Course on Malaria Microscopy for Medical Technologists from Global Fund Provinces expansion sites to further enhance their knowledge, skills, and capabilities in diagnosing malaria. A refresher course will be conducted on a regular basis every after three (3) or five (5) years.
The training course was divided into three (3) batches with at least thirteen (13) participants each. It was held at the Orchid Garden Suites, Manila on June 28 – July 2, 2010 for the first batch; July 5 – 9, 2010 for the second batch; and July 12 – 16 for the third batch.
The course objective to equip participants with knowledge and skills on malaria microscopy were satisfactorily achieved through lecture discussions, actual demonstrations, and microscopy sessions using bench microscopes with topics on the morphology of human malaria, basic laboratory techniques, the new drug policy, care and maintenance of microscope, parasite quantification, quality assurance, and PHILMIS.
All participants were able to finish the course with satisfactory grades. A comparison of the general average of the class in the pre and post tests showed a significant increase in the theoretical and practical examinations.
Evaluation of the course by the participants resulted to a very high overall rating. Participants expressed their satisfaction in the training materials, coverage of the course, venue, facilitators, and the general atmosphere in the conduct of the training.
