----- Original Message -----
From: "MNH Updates" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "MNH Updates" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 11:05 PM
Subject: MNH Update, February/March 2004
MNH Update
February/March 2004; Number 48
Please click on the website address http://www.mnh.jhpiego.org/updates/ to
read the MNH Update. For those who cannot access the version on the website,
please scroll down below for a text version.
Basic Maternal and Newborn Care: A Guide for Skilled Providers
Now Available
JHPIEGO's MNH Program is pleased to announce the publication of Basic
Maternal and Newborn Care: A Guide for Skilled Providers (BMNC). The BMNC
manual is a reference manual intended for use by skilled providers
(including midwives, doctors, and nurses)-working in low-resource settings
at any level of the healthcare system or in homes-who care for women during
pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, and for their newborns.
Given the ongoing challenge of reducing maternal and newborn mortality and
morbidity, it is not surprising that many manuals related to maternal and
newborn health focus on managing complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
The fact is, however, that most pregnancies and childbirths are normal,
resulting in a positive health outcome for mother and child. BMNC is based
on the premise that the provision of quality basic care-safe, simple,
cost-effective interventions that all women and newborns should receive-not
only supports and helps maintain normal processes, but can also save lives
by preventing complications and facilitating their early detection and
treatment.
Providers of maternal and newborn healthcare services in developing
countries, where resources are often limited, have long expressed the need
for a comprehensive, up-to-date set of global guidelines for the care of
women experiencing normal pregnancies, childbirths, and postpartum periods,
as well as that of normal newborns. Bringing together global lessons learned
and diverse perspectives from which individual countries can benefit, the
BMNC manual meets this need, presenting a package of services that are:
· Appropriate for use in low-resource settings;
· Based on evidence-that is, proven to be effective in promoting the health
and survival of women and newborn babies-and firm rationales, rather than on
habit or tradition; and
· Focused, through targeted assessment and individualized care provision, on
the most prevalent health issues affecting women and newborns.
Although the manual's emphasis is on supporting and maintaining the health
of the woman and her baby, the manual recognizes that all childbearing women
and newborns are at risk of developing life-threatening complications. Thus,
for each phase of the childbearing cycle (i.e., pregnancy, labor/childbirth,
and the postpartum period up to 6 weeks) and early newborn period (up to 6
days of age), BMNC presents a basic care strategy for:
· health promotion, through health messages and counseling, as well as birth
preparedness/complication readiness; and
· prevention, early detection, and/or initial management (including
life-saving measures, if necessary) of the most common causes of maternal
and newborn death and disability.
Guidance on general, crosscutting issues-such as woman- and newborn-friendly
care, infection prevention, male involvement, and working with the
community-is also provided. For further information about diagnosis and
management of complications, the user is referred to Managing Complications
in Pregnancy and Childbirth: A Guide for Midwives and Doctors and Managing
Newborn Problems: A Guide for Doctors, Nurses, and Midwives, which are part
of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Integrated Management of Pregnancy
and Childbirth (IMPAC) series. In addition to serving as a reference for
skilled providers, the manual is also suitable for use in inservice training
and preservice education programs. The BMNC Learning Resource Package,
forthcoming from JHPIEGO/MNH Program, will contain all materials needed to
conduct a competency-based course. The price of the manual is US$15. For
additional information or to place an order, contact Dana Lewison, 1615
Thames St., Baltimore, MD 21231, USA (email: [log in to unmask]).
MNH Program Director Contributes to Healthy Newborn Partnership Meeting
Judith Robb-McCord, director of the MNH Program, recently traveled to
Ethiopia to make two presentations at the second annual Healthy Newborn
Partnership (HNP) meeting (23-25 February). To generate increased momentum
and commitment for the newborn health agenda, participants reviewed the
status of newborn health globally, giving particular emphasis to the state
of newborn health in Africa. Presenters led discussions on a range of
newborn health and wellbeing topics. Ms. Robb-McCord presented "Managing
Malaria during Pregnancy: From Research to Action," which highlighted
strategies for the management of malaria during pregnancy within the context
of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
(http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/) and the Abuja Declaration targets
(http://mosquito.who.int/docs/abuja_declaration.pdf). To introduce the
recently published Basic Maternal and Newborn Care manual, she also
presented "Basic Maternal and Newborn Care from the Household to the
Hospital, "which gave an overview of the manual, emphasizing the information
on newborn care.
On the final day of the meeting, participants reviewed the HNP Addis Ababa
Statement and drafted recommendations for action. Ms. Robb-McCord moderated
the session on HNP action at the country level for achieving the Millennium
Development Goals. The HNP secretariat, under the leadership of Anne Tinker,
will finalize the Addis Ababa Statement and forward it to participants for
their review and comment. For more information about HNP, please see
http://www.healthynewborns.org/.
MNH Program to Host Regional Experts' Meeting
In late July 2004, the MNH Program will convene a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya,
of maternal and newborn health experts trained and developed via the
Program's "Regional Expert Development Initiative." Details of the meeting,
and information about how to register, are forthcoming. To prepare for this
event, the Program invites experts trained through the initiative to send
their updated contact information, and any information about their current
activities, to Angela Nash-Mercado ([log in to unmask]) by 16 April
2004.
JHPIEGO Releases Two New Publications to Support Training and Performance
Improvement
Guidelines for Assessment of Skilled Providers after Training in Maternal
and Newborn Healthcare
The JHPIEGO/MNH Program announces the publication of Guidelines for
Assessment of Skilled Providers after Training in Maternal and Newborn
Healthcare. This manual contains tools for assessing provider knowledge,
clinical decision-making, and skill competence on the job. The assessment
tools are based on the World Health Organization international guidelines
Managing Complications in Pregnancy and Childbirth: A Guide for Midwives and
Doctors (2000) and the JHPIEGO reference manual entitled Basic Maternal and
Newborn Care: A Guide for Skilled Providers (2004).
The assessment tools consist of knowledge questionnaires, skills checklists,
and case studies in the areas of antenatal care, normal labor, childbirth,
and immediate newborn care, postpartum care (mother and baby), and
management of complications. There are also tools for data collection, and a
section on analyzing and using data collected during the followup visit. The
Guidelines were field-tested in Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia,
and Nepal.
Organizations and programs providing training in maternal and newborn
healthcare may use these tools when conducting supportive followup visits to
newly trained providers. Using all of the tools in the document will provide
a comprehensive assessment of skills and service delivery. Each tool,
however, may be used separately or combined with others to create a document
appropriate for the content of a specific maternal and newborn health
training course. The Guidelines are free in limited quantities. To order:
E-mail [log in to unmask]
Supervising Healthcare Services: Improving the Performance of People
This learning package is designed as part of a strategy to improve the
performance of health services supervision and the quality of services
provided at healthcare delivery sites. Field-tested extensively in Kenya,
the package was developed around the Performance Improvement (PI) approach,
a step-by-step process for improving performance and quality of services. It
focuses on the essential skills required of a supervisor, and is most
appropriate for supervisors of medium to large facilities and district-level
supervisors. Using these materials, the supervisor will learn how to work
with staff and members of the community to set and communicate performance
standards, to determine if standards are being met, to identify reasons why
standards are not being met, and to design and implement ways to improve
performance to meet those standards. The supervisor will also learn how to
work with people effectively and monitor and evaluate performance at the
facility. The learning package comprises a reference manual, notebook for
trainers, and handbook for participants. For more information, see:
http://www.jhpiego.org/scripts/pubs/category_detail.asp?category_id=18.
Position Announcement: Malaria Action Coalition (MAC) Manager
USAID has established the Malaria Action Coalition (MAC) to support the
World Health Organization's Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Program. The MAC
partnership includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
the Management Sciences for Health/Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus
(RPM Plus) project, the JHPIEGO/Maternal and Neonatal Health (MNH) Program,
and the World Health Organization (both Geneva and AFRO offices). The MAC
functions as an integral part of the RBM partnership for Africa and supports
national governments in the review, revision, and implementation of malaria
treatment in children less than 5 years of age and malaria in pregnancy
interventions. The MAC provides technical assistance that is consistent with
RBM objectives and strategies, and coordinates its efforts with those of the
RBM partners engaged in these strategic and policy areas.
The MAC is seeking a manager to establish a new programming structure for
the reduction of the burden of disease of malaria in Africa. She or he will
be the primary contact with USAID and will be responsible for the daily
management of the MAC. The manager will be responsible for coordinating
US-based inputs for program activities and ensuring timely reporting to
USAID. Please see http://www.msh.org/employment/positions/082cpm04.html for
a position description and application details.
Loss of Good Friend and Colleague
The MNH Program is saddened to report the passing of a good friend and
colleague. On 23 March, Kathy Jesencky, a senior program manager with the
MNH Program, died at peace surrounded by and current and past colleagues and
friends. Despite her illness, Kathy continued to work until just months
before she died, recently traveling to Kenya, Madagascar, and Burkina Faso
to provide guidance and technical assistance. Her commitment to women's
health was deep, and her last request was that a fund be established in her
name to sponsor African girls' education in Kenya. For more information
about the fund, please contact Nancy Russell ([log in to unmask]). We at
JHPIEGO and the MNH Program will miss Kathy, but her legacy will live on in
her beloved Africa and around the world.
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, click on the link below or copy and
paste the URL into the address bar of your web browser:
<http://www.jhpiego.org/scripts/newsletter/unsubscribeform.asp>
The Maternal & Neonatal Health (MNH) Program at the JHPIEGO Corporation
produces MNH Updates for those working to promote maternal and neonatal
health. Activities reported are those of the MNH Program. Please notify us
of other Safe Motherhood activities of interest to our readers. Your
comments are welcome. Previous issues can be viewed on our website at
www.mnh.jhpiego.org/updates/. For more information about MNH Updates, e-mail
Angela Nash-Mercado, [log in to unmask], or visit our website,
www.mnh.jhpiego.org/index.asp.
This newsletter was made possible through support provided by the Maternal
and Child Health Division, Office of Health, Infectious Diseases and
Nutrition, Bureau for Global Health, U.S. Agency for International
Development, under the terms of Award No. HRN-A-00-98-00043-00. The opinions
expressed herein are those of JHPIEGO and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
|
