Clinical Officer Master Trainer Leads Echocardiography Training for New PEN-Plus Providers in Malawi

Kenwood Kumwenda (second from left) conducts echocardiography training for PEN-Plus clinical officers and NCD coordinators.

As part of Malawi’s efforts to scale up PEN-Plus nationally, clinical officers and nurses from two expansion sites in Salima and Karonga recently completed two weeks of echocardiography training at the PEN-Plus training site and clinics established in Neno by the Ministry of Health and Partners In Health Malawi.

Applying the train-the-trainers model in which experienced mid-level providers teach echocardiography skills and heart failure management to new PEN-Plus nurses and clinical officers, the course was led by Neno master trainer and clinical officer Kenwood Kumwenda, with mentorship and support from Dr. Sheila Klassen, an adult cardiologist specializing in echocardiography who works with the NCDI Poverty Network Secretariat.

This marked a milestone in developing a cadre of master trainers at the PEN-Plus training site in Neno, where Partners In Health and the Malawi Ministry of Health established Malawi’s first PEN-Plus clinic in 2018.

One nurse and one clinical officer or NCD coordinator from both Salima and Karonga are now fully trained PEN-Plus providers. Additionally, both NCD clinics have been outfitted with Lumify echocardiography devices that will allow users to take high-quality cardiac images of patients to diagnose, treat, and manage rheumatic heart disease patients and other heart failure patients.

The Malawi PEN-Plus Operational Plan calls for expanding from two clinics in the South to 18 hospitals in all three regions of the country by 2023 and a total of 56 in 2026.