7 March 2012
Approximately two hours South of Kigali in Busasamana lives the 32-year old mother of four children, Jacqueline Nyanzera. Sitting on the floor of her hut next to a bed that is covered with a mosquito net, she cradles her three day old newborn in her arms. She beams proudly as she shows her baby to visitors, one of whom is Jean Umurara or better known as Mama Jean, a community health worker (CHW).
This paper attempts to systematically review and compare quality improvement (QI) models that have been applied extensively in maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) or are potentially effective models for MNCH programs.The paper identifies the models’ essential elements in an attempt to find common ground: a place where those who apply different QI models can discuss them with a common language and understanding.
(Photos courtesy of Monika Gutestam/Save the Children.)
In 1998, the World Health Organization (WHO) released guidelines for umbilical cord-stump care. Their recommendation at that time was that antimicrobials need not be applied unless warranted by local conditions, which could result in higher infection risk. In those guidelines, the WHO also acknowledged that more evidence was required concerning possible benefits of antiseptic use.
6 March 2012
(Photos and text by Molly Miller-Petrie, Program Assistant, MCHIP/PATH)
The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Neonatal Alliance recently held its annual work plan meeting at the MCHIP offices in Washington, DC. Attendees focused on improving the group's cooperative and supportive efforts in relation to the work of these professional organizations.
This quality of care survey was conducted in March and April of 2010 to assess the care received by mothers and newborns during antenatal and delivery care. The survey was fielded in the 19 Ethiopian hospitals with the heaviest volume of deliveries. The primary objective of the survey was to determine the frequency and quality of interventions that address direct causes of maternal and neonatal deaths and to guide the need for and content of QOC improvement activities for maternal and newborn care at all hospital levels.
29 February 2012
Women and babies were dying in Ntaja, Malawi. The community wanted to do something about it. With the help of MCHIP, the local health center and health surveillance worker assigned to the area, they formed an all volunteer community action group (CAG) and began to improve their approach to maternal and newborn care.
28 February 2012
In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF released a joint statement endorsing home visits after birth as an effective strategy to deliver newborn care and improve newborn survival. This strategy has been successfully used in high mortality settings, under research conditions, and has shown to improve newborn care practices and to reduce newborn mortality.
You are cordially invited to attend the Asia Regional Meeting on Interventions for Impact in Essential Obstetric and Newborn Care, to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 4-6 May 2012, with an opening ceremony and optional supplementary sessions on 3 May 2012.
“This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands, this is the way we wash our hands, with water and soap to keep infections away,” sing a chorus of community health workers (CHWs) in their local Malagasy dialect.
