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21 March 2024 - SALT LAKE CITY
Featured Stories


IMPROVING MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH IN AFRICA WITH AN INNOVATIVE TRAINING
APPROACH

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST IS SUPPORTING UNICEF’S PROGRAMS TO TRAIN HEALTH
WORKERS IN ETHIOPIA, KENYA AND TANZANIA TO HELP NEWBORNS AND THEIR MOTHERS

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Participants from a regional training at Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi,
the first Learning Hub in Kenya established by UNICEF in collaboration with The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Laerdal Global Health. Photo
provided by UNICEF/Gohar, courtesy of Church News. All rights reserved.

This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by
other media.

By Mary Richards, Church News

Low-quality healthcare has meant that parts of Africa have newborn mortality
rates that are among the world’s highest.

But UNICEF and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe every
child deserves a healthy start in life.

“The ability of mothers and newborns to receive quality care increases their
opportunity for a healthy start,” said Phillip Moatlhodi, a Welfare and
Self-Reliance manager for the Church’s Africa Central Area.

That’s why the Church is supporting UNICEF’s efforts to improve outcomes for
newborns and their mothers through a training program for health care workers.

The training program includes centers known as “Learning Hubs and Centers of
Excellence.” They launched in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in 2022.

The learning hubs, simulation centers and mentorship programs help ensure health
care providers have the skills and knowledge they need to improve standards of
care and reduce mortality rates for mothers and babies.

> View this post on Instagram
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> A post shared by Caring | Church of Jesus Christ (@caring.churchofjesuschrist)



The approach moves away from traditional classroom instruction to more
hospital-based, hands-on training — including post-training follow-up, mentoring
and supportive supervision.

Fatima Gohar, a maternal, newborn and adolescent health specialist with UNICEF,
spoke about building healthcare providers’ skills and competencies.

“Practicing on mannequins can develop competency and a degree of confidence, but
it takes practicing on real clients to achieve proficiency,” Gohar said. “With
this innovative program, we are ensuring that participants gain not only
competency but also proficiency in lifesaving skills. After gaining competency
on mannequins, participants will apply their newly learned skills on real
clients, under the careful supervision of clinical preceptors.”

UNICEF’s USA’s web story about the initiative said local ownership is needed for
any successful program. As UNICEF involved local leadership in the learning
hubs, the organization was able to gain the buy-in from governments, agencies
and other partners to grow.


PERSONALIZED SUPPORT FOR WOMEN IN LABOR AND DELIVERY



Supervised, hands-on training in hospitals provides maternal and neonatal health
workers with invaluable real-life labor and delivery experience at Pumwani
Maternity Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. The program is the result of a
collaboration between UNICEF and partners including The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints and Laerdal Global Health. Photo provided by UNICEF/Gohar,
courtesy of Church News. All rights reserved.

Often, women have been left to labor alone without support because of a shortage
of skilled health workers across the region. This increases the risk of maternal
and neonatal death.

“In our trainings, we are able to leverage the resources we have from the
Church,” Gohar said. “Merging the resources of the Church and other partners, we
have been able to reach the first milestone of this partnership where we are
starting to see changes, at least in the hospitals we are working in now.”

For example, women are receiving more essential care during labor and birth with
a midwife or doctor staying with them — taking care of them, checking on their
needs, giving more emotional support and essential care. The healthcare workers
were trained on dynamic birthing positions and alternative pain relief
therapies, which have allowed more positive outcomes.

Gohar said allowing mothers to use alternate birthing positions helps enhance
their positive experience, which will help them not only to come back, but also
properly care for their baby.

“Perinatal mental health is a neglected area. A lot of women go through
depression or other mental health issues. I recently read about the influence of
negative birth experiences on the mental health of mothers. Through this
program, we are really trying to improve positive experiences during birth which
then may have an impact on their mental health,” she said.

The training approach is designed to cascade down from mentors to other health
workers, who then train their colleagues. In this way, the pool of providers
grows with the best maternal and newborn skills.



Health workers participate in a training session at Pumwani Maternity Hospital
in Nairobi, Kenya, part of an in-service education program implemented by UNICEF
with support from Laerdal Global Health and The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Photo provided by UNICEF/Gohar, courtesy of Church News. All
rights reserved.


THE CHURCH AND UNICEF

Since 2013, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and UNICEF have
worked together to support millions of children and their families across the
globe.

These initiatives include child nutrition, COVID-19 efforts, emergency response,
immunizations and vaccinations, education programs and more.

Moatlhodi said the Church has supported other types of programming implemented
by UNICEF and local UNICEF offices had collaborated with the Church on its
maternal and newborn care training program in several countries, but this
project was the first collaboration in the Church’s Africa Central Area to
address key drivers of maternal and newborn mortality.

“We are all children of God and we believe each child of God should have the
opportunity for a healthy start in life,” Moatlhodi said.

A social media post from UNICEF USA said: “Through our collaboration, we’re
witnessing real change. More mothers and newborns are receiving quality care,
and health workers are gaining skills and confidence in tackling neonatal and
maternal health challenges.”



Copyright 2024 Deseret News Publishing Company.

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