"MDR-TB Partnership China Project” sponsored by Eli Lilly, keeps going. As a follow-up to the salon discussion in Guangzhou on September 28th, 3 pilot factories were selected for on-site training on November 11th, 12th and 13th. The immediate output of these three trainings is encouraging and we can expect that all three can share their experiences using the toolkit at the next open training session, which is planned for the 8th of January 2010.
Three pilot factories were intentionally selected talking into account their difference in terms of the industry, size and their management of infectious diseases. The idea behind this is to demonstrate that the TB prevention Toolkit can be used by all kinds of factories.
It’s important to note that the strong support of the Institute of Tuberculosis Prevention and Control (ITPC) was crucial to the success of these trainings. From the project outset, Mrs. Zhou Lin, the Office director of the ITPC in Guangdong provided us with thorough on-the-ground support and even the Institute Director, Mr. Zhong, regretted not being able to personally train one of the pilot factories due to his schedule. In order to increase the quality of the training, the Institute provided two experts prepared with presentation materials customized for each factory.
The agenda of the 1-day in-factory training was divided into two parts:
1- A presentation on TB and the toolkit in the morning; and
2- Participatory and peer education approaches as tools for promoting TB in the afternoon, leading to participants developing campaign plans at the factory.
The first training started at Long-Yi Gift factory, which was recommended by Home Depot. Long Yi is a “workshop” style factory with only 60 employees mainly manufacturing Christmas gifts such as molded statues.
18 employees attended the training. After a whole day training, the factory director committed to implement the toolkit in the factory. 4 leaders were then selected to be in charge of setting up the promotion teams and work out a promotion plan in the factory.
The second training took place at Dean Shoes Co. Ltd (or ‘Shoes’ for short), which was recommended by New Balance.
By contrast with the first factory, Shoes is an enormous and well managed factory with 12,598 employees even during the financial crisis.
60 employees attended the training, divided into 6 teams. At the end of the day, each team presented their promotional plan; all of which seemed initially feasible before their finalized plans with the approval of the top management.
The final training took place at Amway China on November 13th. As a multinational company specializing in healthcare and home products manufacturing in China, Amway has developed a very comprehensive infectious disease prevention system.
27 of the factory’s 710 employees attended the training, from various departments including R&D, Laboratory , HR, Quality Control, EHS etc..
Prticipants were divided into 4 teams. Each team designed a slogan and its own action plan for the TB prevention campaign. Based on this, a final slogan and TB-prevention campaign plans shall be sent to BSR in two weeks as with the other two pilot factories.
Once the three factories finalize their toolkit promotion plans, BSR will follow up with them for on-site implementation.
An Open Training Course for factories in the Pearl Delta area will be taking place around January 27th 2010 at which the pilot factories will share their experience implementing the toolkit using a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) analysis. Based on their experience and analysis, the toolkit could then be adjusted accordingly.
The pilot factories’ training has been first targeted at the Pearl River Delta area where there is a high concentration of migrant workers. Hopefully based on experiences from this pilot project, the training model can then be replicated in other areas
